HV 
GhTBs 


yC-NRLF 


*B   3fl5   104 


DISCOURSE 


IN    COMMEMORATION    OF 


THE  LIFE,  CHARACTER  AND  SERVICES, 


OF     THE 


RET.  THOMAS  H.  6ALLAUDET,  LL.  D., 


i 


1>EHVKKE1)    iiKi<«»liK 


THE   CITIZENS    OF   HARTFORD, 


JANUARY    7tli,     18  5  2. 


BY    HENRY    BARNARD 


HARTFORD : 

i  PUBLISHED  BY  BROCKETT  &  HUTCHINSON. 

18  5  2. 


DISCOURSE 


IN    COMMEMORATION   OF 


THE  LIFE,  CHARACTER  AND  SERVICES, 


OF     THE 


REV.  THOMAS  H.  GALLAUDET,  LL  D., 


DELIVERED   BEFORE 


THE   CITIZENS    OF   HARTFORD, 


JANUARY    7th,    1852. 


BY    HENRY   BARNARD 


HARTFORD : 

PUBLISHED  BY  BROCKETT  &  HUTCHINSON. 
1852. 


Hartford,  Jan.  9th,  1852. 
Dear  Sir  ; 

The  undersigned  having  Ustened  with  much  gratification  to  your  truly- 
interesting  and  eloquent  eulogy,  of  the  7th  inst,  on  the  life  and  services  of 
our  esteemed  fellow-citizen,  the  late  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet,  of  this 
city,  solicit  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication,  a  general  desire  having  been 
manifested  to  see  it  in  print.  Understanding  that  you  omitted,  in  ^the  de- 
livery, a  portion  of  the  address  prepared  for  that  occasion,  it  Is  the  desire 
of  the  committee,  should  you  consent  to  comply  with  their  request,  that  you 
will  furnish  them  with  the  entire  production,  for  the  jiress,  together  with  such 
other  matter  in  connection  therewith,  as  you  may  wish  to  publish  with  it. 
With  sentiments  of  great  respect. 

Very  truly,  yours,  &c., 

THO.  H.  SEYMOUR. 
B.  HUDSON. 
JAMES  H.  WELLS. 
PHILLIP  RIPLEY. 
JOHN  S.  BUTLER. 
Hon.  HENRY  BARNARD, 

SUPERINTKNDENT    OF    CoMlMOX    ScHOOLS. 


243 


TRIBUTE  TO  THE  MEMORY 


BY  THE  CITIZENS  OF  HARTFORD, 


Rev.  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet,  LL.  D.,  died  on  the  10th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1851,  and  was  buried  on  the  12th  of  the  same  month,  after  impressive 
religious  services  in  the  South  Congregational  Church,  which  was  crowds 
with  mourning  friends,  the  officers  and  members  of  the  public  institutions 
with  which  the  deceased  was  connected  in  life,  and  with  citizens  gener- 
ally. The  loss  which  society  and  the  cause  of  religion  had  thus  sustained  was 
duly  coimaiemorated  and  improved  in  several  churches  of  the  cit}-  on  the 
Sabbaths  immediately  following.  But  it  was  still  a  very  general  wish  that 
exercises  of  a  more  public  character  should  be  had,  in  which  the  citizens  of 
Hartford  generally  might  participate. 

In  pursuance  of  a  call  signed  by  thirty  of  the  principal  citizens  of  Hartford, 
a  preliminary  meeting  was  held  in  the  Lecture  Room  of  the  Center  Church, 
on^the  evening  of  the  20th  of  October,  1851,  in  reference  to  the  adoption  of 
measures  for  some  public  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memorj'. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Governor  Seymour,  and  organized  by 
the  appointment  of  Hon.  Thomas  Day,  Chairman,  and  Luzerne  Rae,  Sec_ 
retary. 

A  series  of  resolutions  was  presented  by  the  Rev.  William  W.  Turner, 
which,  after  brief  remarks  by  the  mover,  the  Hon.  Seth  Terrj',  the  Rev.  Dr- 
Bushnell,  and  other  gentlemen,  were  unanimously  adopted. 

JVIiereast,  It  having  pleased  Alraifrhty  God  to  remove  by  death  the  Rev. 
Thomas  H.  Gallaudet,  LL.  D.,  a  resident  of  Hartford  for  half  a  century, 
universally  known  and  not  less  universally  beloved  and  honored,  both  as  a 
private  citizen  and  public  benefactor; 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  view  of  this  meeting,  the  occasion  is  one  which  de- 
1 


2  TJiomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

mands  a  more  public  and  particular  recognition,  than  properly  belongs  to  the 
demise  of  an  ordinary  citizen. 

Resolved,  That  the  whole  character  of  the  eminent  and  excellent  man  whose 
death  we  mourn,  commanding,  as  it  did,  our  reverence  and  admiration  while 
he  lived  among  us,  will  be  long  remembered  now  that  he  is  dead,  as  a  hapjiy 
union  of  various  and  often  disunited  qualities;  of  Christian  faith  arul  philan- 
thropic works;  of  liberality  without  laxity;  of  firmness  without  bigotry  ;  of 
sympathy  with  the  vicious  and  the  criminal  in  their  sufferings,  without  undue 
tenderness  toward  vice  and  crime  ;  and  as  furnishing  in  its  whole  development, 
a  beavitiful  proof  of  the  possibility  of  meeting  the  most  rigorous  demands  of 
conscience  and  of  God,  and  of  securing,  at  the  same  time,  the  love  and  respect 
of  all  elasses  and  conditions  of  men. 

Resolved,  That,  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Gallaudet,  society  has  lost  one  of  its 
brightest  ornaments  ;  the  cause  of  education  a  most  able  and  faithful  advocate  ; 
religion,  a  shining  example  of  daily  devotion  to  its  principles;  the  young,  a 
kind  and  judicious  counselor;  and  the  unfortunate  of  every  class,  a  self-denying 
and  never  wearying  friend. 

Resolved,  That  ihe  noblest  monuments  of  the  deceased  are  already  erected ; 
and  that  his  name  will  never  be  forgotten,  so  long  as  the  two  benevolent  institu- 
tions, one  of  which  received  its  existence  from  the  labor  of  his  early  manhood, 
while  the  other  enjoyed  the  devoted  services  of  his  later  years,  remain  to  crown 
the  beautiful  hills  in  the  neighborhood  of  our  city. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  by  this  meeting,  to  devise 
such  measures  as  may  seem  expedient,  in  further  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Dr. 
Gallaudet;  and  to  make  all  the  arrangements  necessary  to  carry  these  meas- 
ures into  effect. 

It  was  voted  that  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  meeting  should  be  printed 
in  the  public  papers,  and  that  a  copy  of  the  same  should  be  presented  by 
the  Secretary  to  the  family  of  Mr..  Gallaudet. 

In  accordance  with  the  last  of  these  resolutions,  a  conmiittee  of  arrange- 
ments was  appointed,  consisting  of  the  following  gentlemen  : — B.  Hudson, 
Esq.,  His  Excellency,  Thomas  H.  Seymour,  James  H.  Wells,  Esq.,  Phillip 
Ripley,  Esq.,  Dr.  John  S.  Butler. 

In  pursuance  of  the  action  of  this  committee,  the  following  Public  Services 
were  held  in  the  South  Congregational  Church  on  Wednesday  evening. 
January  7th,  1852. 

CHANT. 

Blessed  are  the  dead,  who  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth.  Yea,  saith 
the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow 
them. 

Our  days  are  as  a  shadow,  and  there  is  none  abiding;  we  are  but  of  yes- 
terday, there  is  but  a  step  between  us  and  death. 

Man's  days  are  as  grass;  as  a  flower  of  the  field,  so  he  flourisheth. 

He  appeareth  for  a  little  time,  and  then  vanisheth  away. 

"Watch,  for  ye  know  not  what  hour  your  Lord  doth  come. 

Be  ye  also  ready,  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  Son  of  man  comcth. 

It  is  the  Lord  :  let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  good. 

The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away,  and  blessed  be  the  name  of 
the  Lord. 

SELECTIONS  FROM  SCRIPTTJEE. 

BY    REV.    WALTER    CLARKE. 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallandet. 

HYMN. 

BY    MRS.  LYDIA    HUNTLEY    SIGOURNKT. 

We  mourn  his  loss, — who  meekly  walked 

In  the  Redeemer's  way. 
And  toiled  the  unfolding  mind  to  shield 

From  Error's  darkening  sway; 

Who  strove  through  Nature's  prisoning  shades 

The  hermit-heart  to  reach, 
And  with  philosophy  divine 

To  give  the  silent,  speech  ; 

Who  'mid  the  cells  of  dire  disease 

In  prayerful  patience  wrought, 
And  stricken  and  bewildered  souls 

To  a  Great  Healer  brought. 

Around  his  grave  let  pilgrims  throng, 

And  tears  bedew  his  urn  : 
'Tis  meet  that  for  the  friend  of  all. 

The  hearts  of  all  should  mourn. 

Yet  meet  it  is  our  Gob  to  praise 

For  his  example  here. 
And  for  his  glorious  rest, — above 

The  trial  and  the  tear. 

PRAYEE. 

BY    REV.    WALTER   CLARKE, 

HYMN. 

BY   LUZERNE    RAE. 

He  dies  :  the  earth  becomes  more  dark 

When  such  as  he  ascend  to  heaven. 
For  where  Death  strikes  a  '  shining  mark,' 

Through  bleeding  hearts  his  shaft  is  driven. 
Alike  the  sounds  of  mourning  come 

From  humble  hut  and  Ibfty  hall. 
Wherever  misery  finds  a  home ; 

And  all  lament  the  friend  of  all. 

He  dies :  and  still  around  his  grave. 

The  silent  sons  of  sorrow  bend. 
With  tears  for  him  thry  could  not  save. 

Their  guide — their  father — and  their  friend  ; 
And  minds  in  ruin  ask  for  him, 

With  wondering  woe  that  he  is  gone; 
And  cheeks  are  pale  and  eyes  are  dim. 

Among  the  outcast  and  forlorn. 


4  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

He  lives  :  for  virtue  cannot  die ; 

The  man  departs,  his  deeds  remain; 
They  wipe  the  tear,  they  check  the  sigh, 

They  hush  the  sob  of  mortal  pain. 
Love  lasts  forever  :  age  on  age 

The  holy  flame  renews  its  glow, 
While  man's  brief  years  of  pilgrimage. 

End  in  the  dust  of  death  below. 

He  lives  :  his  memory  is  the  light 

To  which  our  eyes  with  reverence  turn : 
To  love  the  true — to  choose  the  right — 

Are  lessons  from  his  life  we  learn. 
Give  us,  O  God  !  thy  guiding  hand. 

And  teach  us  by  thy  word,  that  we 
Like  him  may  labor  in  the  land, 

And  follow  him  to  heaven  and  Thee. 

EULOGY. 

BY   HENRY    BARNARD. 

DIE6E. 

Paraphrase  of  COLLINS'  "  How  sleep  the  brave !" 

BY    REV.  THOMAS    H.  GALLAUDET,  LL.  D. 

How  sleep  the  good !  who  sink  to  rest. 
With  their  Redeemer's  favor  blest : 
When  dawns  the  day,  by  seers  of  old, 
Li  sacred  prophecy  foretold. 
They  then  shall  burst  their  humble  sod. 
And  rise  to  meet  their  Saviour — God. 

To  seats  of  bliss  by  angel-tongue. 
With  rapture  is  their  welcome  sung, 
And  at  their  tomb  when  evening  gray 
Hallows  the  hour  of  closing  day. 
Shall  Faith  and  Hope  awhile  repair. 
To  dwell  with  weeping  Friendship  there. 

The  early  and  spontaneous  movement  of  many  graduates  of  the  American 
Asylum,  and  of  deaf  mutes  in  other  parts  of  the  country  towards  the  ereetion 
of  a  monument  in  the  grounds  of  the  Asylum,  commemorative  of  their  grati- 
tude and  affection  towards  this  great  benefactor  of  tliat  class,  may  supersede 
the  action  of  the  committee  in  that  direction. 


EULOaY. 


In  the  autumn  of  1807,  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Mason  Fitch 
Cogswell,  the  beloved  physician  of  our  city  at  the  date  refer- 
red to,  there  was  an  interesting  child,  over  whose  innocent 
beauty,  and  joyous  temper,  and  opening  faculties,  two  sum- 
mers had  shed  their  fragrance,  their  brightness  and  their 
music.  The  heart  of  little  Alice  Cogswell, — for  her  name 
has  become  historic, — seemed  the  gushing  fountain  of  glad 
and  gladdening  emotions,  which  fell  from  her  lips  in  the  un- 
written melody  of  childhood's  first  imperfect  words.  Her 
curious  ear  was  quick  to  catch  the  lowest  tones  of  a  mother's 
or  a  sister's  voice,  and  assimilate  into  her  spirit's  growth  the 
many  sounds  with  which  exulting  nature  makes  every  nook 
of  her  wide  domain  vocal.  There  was  about  her  whole  ap- 
pearance and  movements  that  indescribable  purity  and  joy 
which  suggested  to  the  poet  the  thought  "  that  Heaven  lies 
about  us  in  our  infancy,"  or  that  more  consoling  declaration 
of  Him  who  took  little  children  in  his  arms  and  blessed  them, 
"  that  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 

Interesting  as  this  child  was,  she  became  in  the  providence 
of  God,  in  consequence  of  an  attack  of  spotted  fever,  when 
two  years  and  three  months  old,  an  object  of  still  wider 
and  deeper  interest  to  her  family,  to  this  community,  and  to 
the  world. 

The  child  recovered  from  its  severe  illness,  but  it  was  soon 
painfully  evident  that  the  sense  of  hearing  was  obliterated, 
and  that  to  her  ear  this  universe  of  sound,  from  the  mighty 
compass  of  the  many-stringed  harp  of  nature,  to  the  varied 
tones  of  the  human  voice,  was  as  silent  as  a  desert ;  and  as  is 
not  usual  in  such  cases,  the  loss  of  articulation  soon  followed 
the  loss  of  hearing. 


6  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

There  is  no  need  of  words  to  realize  to  you,  even  if  you 
have  not  been  brought  into  the  experience,  or  the  presence  of 
such  calamity, — the  mother's  anguish  or  the  father's  anxiety, 
when  the  gladsomeness  of  this  child's  heart  no  longer  found 
expression  in  prattling  converse,  and  its  blank  look  proclaimed 
that  the  voice  of  maternal  affection  fell  unheeded  on  its  ear. 
The  yearnings  of  its  young  spirit  for  love,  or  for  its  little 
wants,  could  only  find  expression  in  inarticulate  breathings, 
or  uncouth  explosions  of  sound. 

As  Alice  grew  in  years,  it  was  painfully  evident,  that  as 
compared  with  children  of  the  same  age,  having  perfect 
senses,  she  did  not  grow  in  knowledge.  The  shades  of  a 
prison-house  seemed  to  close  round  her  mind,  although 
placed  in  the  midst  of  cultivated  society,  teachers,  schools, 
books,  and 

The  boundless  store 
Of  charms  which  nature  to  her  votary  yields; 
The  warbling  woodland  ;  the  resounding  shore ; 
The  pomp  of  groves  and  garniture  of  fields ; 
All  that  the  genial  ray  of  morning  gilds. 
And  all  that  echoes  to  the  song  of  even ; 
All  that  the  mountains'  sheltering  bosom  shields. 
And  all  the  dread  magnificence  of  Heaven. 

Her  spirit,  gifted  with  the  warmest  affections,  and  the 
power  of  an  endless  life,  and  of  indefinite  progression,  seemed 
destined  to  sit  in  the  loneliness  of  perpetual  solitude, — cut 
off  from  all  intercourse,  through  teachers  and  books,  with  the 
great  and  good  on  earth,  from  the  majestic  contemplation  of 
its  own  immortal  existence,  the  sublime  conception  of  an 
Infinite  and  Supreme  Intelligence,  and  from  all  communion 
with  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect. 

By  agencies  and  in  ways,  to  which  I  shalf  briefly  advert, 
modes  of  reaching,  and  educating  that  mind  were  discovered 
and  applied, — that  imprisoned  spirit  was  wooed  forth  into 
the  light  of  a  gladsome  existence, — the  warmth  of  that  loving 
heart  was  cherished  so  as  to  add  not  only  to  the  cheerfulness 
of  her  parental  home,  and  when  she  passed  from  girlhood  into 
young  womanhood,  she  was  not  only  clothed  with  the  attrac- 
tions of  personal  beauty  and  accomplished   manners,   but 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  7 

displayed  the  higher  attractions  of  a  cultivated  mind  and  a 
purified  spirit — star-illumed,  like  the  depths  of  the  midnight 
Heavens  above  us,  with  bright  thoughts  and  holy  aspirations. 
Among  the  teachers  who  were  instrumental  in  commencing 
and  working  this  change,  the  name  of  Lydia  Huntley  must 
not  be  forgotten,  to  whom  also  many  of  the  most  accom- 
plished women  of  our  city  owe  the   early  culture  of  their 
minds  and  moral  tastes,  and  who  under  this  and  another 
name,  by  weaving  her  own  happy  inspirations  into  the  bridal 
wreath  and  the  mourning  chaplet  of  her  friends,  has  associa- 
ted herself  inseparably  with  the  household  memories  of  our 
city  and  our  land. 

How  touching  and  beautiful  are  the  lines  in  which  this 
gifted  lady  has  imagined  her  favorite  pupil,  from  a  higher 
and  purer  region,  addressing  the  cherished  objects  of  kindred 
affection  on  earth. 

Joy  !  I  am  mute  no  miore, 
My  sad  and  silent  years 
With  all  their  loveliness  are  o'er. 
Sweet  sisters  dry  your  tears  ; 
Listen  at  hush  of  eve, — listen  at  dawn  of  day, 
List  at  the  hour  of  prayer, — can  ye  not  hear  my  lay  ? 
Untaught,  unchecked,  it  came. 
As  light  from  chaos  beamed. 
Praising  his  everlasting  name. 

Whose  blood  from  Calvary  streamed, 
And  still  it  swells  that  highest  strain,  the  song  of  the  redeemed. 

Sisters  !  there's  rpusic  here ; 

From  countless  harps  it  flows, 
Throughout  this  bright  celestial  sphere, 

Nor  pause  nor  discord  knows. 
The  seal  is  melted  from  mine  ear, 

By  love  divine. 
And  what  through  life  I  pined  to  hear, 

Is  mine,  is  mine, — 
The  warbling  of  an  ever  tuneful  choir. 
And  the  full,  deep  response  of  David's  sacred  lyre. 
Did  kind  earth  hide  from  me. 
Her  broken  harmony, 
That  thus  the  melodies  of  Heaven  might  roll 
And  whelm  in  deeper  tides  of  bliss  my  wrapt,  my  wondering  soul ! 

But  the  individual  whose  blessed  privilege  it  was  to  plant 
the  standard  of  intelligence  in  the  almost  inaccessible  fast- 


8  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

nesses  of  Alice  Cogswell's  mind, — to  establish  for  her  lines 
and  avenues  of  communication  between  the  inner  and 
the  outer  world, — to  give  her  the  means  and  methods  of 
self-culture, — and  if  not  literally  to  unloose  the  tongue,  or 
unseal  the  ear,  to  unfold  to  her  spirit  the  harmonies,  and 
clothe  it  with  the  singing  robes  of  Heaven, — ^was  Thomas 
Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

But  his  labors  in  the  cause  of  deaf-mute  instruction  were 
not  confined  to  this  individual  case.  Through  the  agency 
and  cooperation  of  many  others,  it  was  his  higher  distinction 
to  have  founded  an  institution,  and  by  its  success,  to  have 
led  the  way  to  the  establishment  of  already  thirteen  other  in- 
stitutions, by  which  thousands  of  this  unfortunate  class  have 
already  been  rescued  from  the  doom  of  ignorance  and  isola- 
tion from  their  kind ;  and  tens  of  thousands  more,  instead  of 
remaining  ignorant,  lonely,  and  helpless,  will  yet  be  introduced 
to  the  boundless  stores  of  human  and  divine  knowledge,  to 
the  delights  of  social  intercourse,  to  a  participation  in  the 
privileges  of  American  citizenship,  to  such  practical  skill  in 
useful  mechanical  and  commercial  business,  and  even  the 
higher  walks  of  literature,  science  and  the  fine  arts,  as  will  ena- 
ble them  to  gain  an  honorable  livelihood,  by  their  own  personal 
exertions,  and  in  fine,  to  all  the  duties  and  privileges  of  edu- 
cated Christian  men  and  women,  capable  not  only  of  indi- 
vidual usefulness  and  well-being,  but  of  adding,  each,  some- 
thing to  the  stock  of  human  happiness,  and  of  subtracting 
something  from  the  sum  of  human  misery. 

But  he  was  not  only  the  successful  teacher  in  a  new  and 
most  difficult  department  of  human  culture,  he  was  a  wise 
educator  in  the  largest  acceptation  of  that  word,  the  early 
and  constant  friend  of  the  teacher  in  every  grade  of  school, 
the  guide  and  counselor  of  the  young,  the  untiring  laborer  in 
every  work  of  philanthropy — the  Christian  gentleman,  and 
the  preeminently  good  man.  And  this  truly  great  and  good 
man  was  our  own  townsman,  and  neighbor  and  friend. 
Here  was  the  field  of  his  useful  and  benevolent  labors, — here 
stands,  and  will  stand  the  institution  which  he  founded,  and 
with  which  his  name  will  be  associated  forever.     Here  in  our 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  9 

daily  walks,  are  the  men  and  women  whom  his  labors  have 
blessed, — here  are  the  children  and  youth,  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  silence,  and  but  for  him,  of  sorrow,  who  have 
come  here  to  this  "  house  of  mercy,"  which  he  founded,  to 
this  pool  of  Bethesda,  whose  waters  will  possess  the  virtue 
of  healing  so  long  as  its  guardians  labor  in  his  spirit, — here 
the  beauty  of  his  daily  life  fell  like  a  blessing  on  the  dusty 
turmoil  of  our  busy  and  selfish  pursuits. 

From  this  field  of  his  benevolent  labor, — from  these  public 
charities,  in  whose  service  he  spent  so  large  a  part  of  his 
life, — from  his  family,  where  he  had  gathered  up  his  heart's 
best  affections  of  an  earthly  sort, — from  his  daily  round  of 
neighborly  and  benevolent  offices,  it  has  pleased  God  to  re- 
move him  by  death.  And  although  the  funeral  obsequies 
have  long  since  been  performed,  and  the  winds  of  winter, 
which  ever  reminded  him  of  the  claims  of  the  poor,  are  now 
sighing  their  requiem  over  his  last  resting-place,  to  which 
we  followed  him  in  the  first  month  of  autumn — we,  his 
fellow-citizens,  neighbors  and  friends,  have  come  together, 
to  devote  a  brief  space  to  the  contemplation  of  his  life, 
character  and  services.  Our  commemoration  of  such  a 
man  cannot  come  too  late,  or  be  renewed  too  often,  if  we 
go  back  to  our  various  pursuits,  with  our  faith  in  good- 
ness made  strong,  and  our  aims  and  efforts  for  the  welfare  of 
our  fellow-men  purified  and  strengthened.  But  whatever  we 
may  do,  or  omit  to  do,  for  his  broadly  beneficent  life  and 
sublime  Christian  virtues,  the  world  will  add  one  other  name 
to  its  small  roll  of  truly  good  men  who  have  founded  institu- 
tions of  beneficence,  and  lifted  from  a  bowed  race  the  burden 
of  a  terrible  calamity ; — 

One  other  name  with  power  endowed, 
To  cheer  and  guide  men  onward  as  they  pass, — 

One  other  image  on  the  heart  bestowed. 
To  dwell  there  beautiful  in  holiness. 

Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  on  the  10th  of  December,  1787.  His  father, 
Peter  W.  Gallaudet,  was  descended  frpm  that  branch  of  a 
Huguenot  family,  which  fled  from  France  on  the  revocation 


10  Tliomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

of  the  Edict  of  Nantz,  and  settled  afterward  near  New  Rochelle 
in  New  York,  on  the  borders  of  Connecticut.  His  mother,  Jane 
Hopkins,  was  the  daughter  of  Captain  Thomas  Hopkins, — a 
descendant  of  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Hartford,  whose 
name  is  recorded  on  the  historical  monument  in  the  old 
burial  ground  in  the  rear  of  the  Center  Church.  The  family- 
removed  to  Hartford  in  1800,  where  the  son  continued  ever 
after  to  reside. 

Mr.  Gallaudet  completed  his  preparation  at  the  Hartford 
Grammar  School  for  the  sophomore  class  of  Yale  College, 
which  he  entered  in  the  autumn  of  1802,  in  the  fifteenth  year 
of  his  age, — an  age,  as  he  often  remarked,  too  young,  to  ena- 
ble a  student  to  reap  the  full  advantage  of  a  collegiate  course 
of  study  and  discipline.  Although  quite  young, — the  young- 
est member  of  his  class,  and  by  temperament  and  habit 
inclined  to  be  cheerful  and  even  mirthful,  he  was  ever  studi- 
ous, with  a  reputation  for  sound  scholarship,  second  to  no 
other  in  his  class,  distinguished  for  the  talent  and  attain- 
ments of  its  members, — strictly  observant  of  the  laws  of  the 
institution,  and  graduated  before  he  was  eighteen  years  old. 
During  his  connection  with  college,  he  was  remarkable  for 
the  accuracy  of  his  recitations  in  every  department  of  study, 
and  was  particularly  eminent  in  mathematics,  and  for  profi- 
ciency in  English  composition.  To  his  early  attention  to 
mathematics  we  may  attribute  much  of  that  discipline  which 
enabled  him  to  summon  his  mental  vigor  and  resources  at 
will,  and  to  his  early  and  constant  practice  of  English  com- 
position, that  facility  and  felicity  of  expression  which  char- 
acterized his  conversation  and  more  elaborate  discourses. 

Soon  after  leaving  college  he  entered  upon  the  study  of 
law,  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Chauncey  Goodrich — reciting  his 
Blackstone,  during  Mr.  Goodrich's  absence  in  attendance  at 
court,  to  the  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Williams,  late  chief  justice  of 
the  State.  Here,  as  in  every  thing  he  undertook,  he  was 
punctual,  and  methodical,  his  recitations  were  remarkable 
for  their  accuracy,  and  he  gave  every  assurance  of  his  be- 
coming in  time  a  thorough  and  successful  lawyer.  The  state 
of  his  health,  which  was  never  robust,  compelled  him  at  the 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  11 

close  of  the  first  year,  to  suspend  his  legal  studies,  which  he 
never  resumed.  The  interval,  before  he  entered  on  his  duties 
as  tutor  in  Yale  College,  in  1808,  was  devoted  to  an  exten- 
sive course  of  reading  in  English  literature,  and  the  practice 
of  English  composition.  His  experience  as  tutor  enabled  him 
to  review  and  extend  his  collegiate  studies,  and  introduced 
him  to  the  subject  of  education  as  a  science,  and  to  its  prac- 
tical duties  as  an  art.  No  one  could  appreciate  more  highly 
than  he  did  the  value  of  even  a  brief  experience  in  teaching, 
as  a  school  of  mental  and  moral  discipline,  and  as  the  most 
direct  way  to  test  the  accuracy  of  attainments  already  made. 

About  this  time,  his  health  requiring  a  more  active  life,  he 
undertook  a  business  commission  for  a  large  house  in  New 
York,  the  prosecution  of  which  took  him  over  the  Alleghanies, 
into  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky, — and  on  his  return, 
with  the  intention  of  pursuing  a  mercantile  life,  he  entered 
as  clerk  a  counting-room  in  the  city  of  New  York.  But 
neither  law  or  commerce  seemed  to  open  the  field,  in  which 
he  could  labor  with  his  whole  heart  and  mind,  although  he 
often  referred  to  his  early  acquaintance  with  their  elementary 
principles  and  forms  of  business  and  practice,  as  a  valuable 
part  of  his  own  education.  Neither  did  he  regard  his  colle- 
giate education  as  at  all  an  inappropriate  preparation  for  a 
life  of  active  mercantile  business.  He  never  entertained  for 
himself  or  his  childri^n,  the  absurd  and  mischievous  notion, 
which  is  too  prevalent  in  society,  that  a  man  having  a  colle- 
giate or  liberal  education,  must  necessarily  preach, — or  prac- 
tice law, — or  hold  a  political  office,  or  trade,  or  speculate  on  a 
large  scale, — to  be  respectable.  He  regarded  the  thorough 
training  of  the  mind,  and  large  acquaintance  with  books  and 
men,  as  a  fit  preparation  for  any  business  or  pursuit. 

Mr.  Gallaudet  made  a  public  profession  of  his  religious 
faith,  and  became  a  member  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  of  Hartford,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Dr.  Strong. 
In  the  fall  of  1811,  he  commenced  the  study  of  theology  at 
Andover,  which  he  prosecuted  with  his  usual  diligence  and 
success,  amid  all  the  interruptions  and  drawbacks  of  delicate 
health.     He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1814,  and  received  im- 


12  Tlwmas  Hopkins  Gallaudet, 

mediately  an  invitation  to  assume  the  pastoral  relations  with 
a  church  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  and  from  several 
parishes  in  Connecticut, — but  although  admirably  adapted 
for  such  a  life,  his  Master  had  work  for  him  in  other,  and 
no  less  important  fields  of  Christian  duty. 

Mr.  Gallaudet  was  now  twenty-seven  years  old.  His 
life  thus  far  was  a  course  of  diligent  and  thorough  preparation 
for  a  life  of  eminent  usefulness  in  any  department  of  literary 
or  professional  labor.  His  mind  was  disciplined  and  enriched 
by  an  assiduous  improvement  of  all  the  advantages  of  one 
of  the  best  colleges  in  our  country.  He  had  assured  himself 
of  his  own  knowledge,  by  his  success  as  a  practical  teacher. 
He  had  devoted  much  time  to  the  attentive  study  of  English 
literature,  and  to  the  practice  of  English  composition.  He 
had  a  knowledge  of  the  elementary  principles  of  law,  and  of 
legal  forms,  by  an  attendance  on  legal  proceedings  in  court, 
and  in  the  office  of  a  successful  practitioner.  He  had  gone 
through  a  thorough  course  of  theological  study,  and  had 
already  officiated  with  great  acceptance  as  a  preacher  in  a 
temporary  supply  of  the  pulpit  in  several  places.  He  had 
seen  much  of  the  world,  and  the  transactions  of  business,  in 
travel,  and  in  the  practical  duties  of  the  store  and  the  count- 
ing-room. He  was  universally  respected  for  his  correct  life, 
as  well  as  thorough  scholarship,  and  beloved  for  his  benevo- 
lent feelings,  social  qualities,  and  courteous  manners.  He 
was  ready  for  his  mission.  That  mission  was  the  long  neg- 
lected field  of  deaf-mute  instruction,  to  which  his  attention 
had  already  been  turned  from  his  interest  in  little  Alice  Cogs- 
well, whose  father's  residence  was  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood of  his  own  home,  and  who  was  also  the  companion 
of  his  own  younger  brothers  and  sisters.  It  was  during  an 
interview  in  his  father's  garden,  where  Alice  was  playing  with 
other  children,  that  Mr.  Gallaudet,  then  a  student  at  Ando- 
ver,  succeeded  in  arresting  her  attention  by  his  use  of  signs, 
the  natural  language  of  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  in  giving 
her  a  first  lesson  in  written  language,  by  teaching  her  that 
the  word  hat  represented  the  thing-y  hat,  which  he  held  in  his 
hand.     Following  up  this  first  step,  in  such  methods  as  his 


Thomas  Hopkins   Gallaudet.  13 

own  ingenuity  could  suggest,  and  what  such  lights  as  he 
could  gather  from  a  publication  of  the  Abbe  Sicard,  which 
Dr.  Cogswell  had  procured  from  Paris,  Mr.  Gallaudet  from 
time  to  time  succeeded  in  imparting  to  her  a  knowledge  of 
many  simple  words  and  sentences  which  were  much  en- 
larged by  members  of  her  own  family,  and  especially  by  her 
first  teacher,  Miss  Lydia  Huntley.  This  success  encouraged 
her  father  in  the  hope,  that  instead  of  sending  his  child, 
made  more  dear  to  him  by  her  privations,  away  from  home, 
to  Edinburgh,  or  London,  for  instruction  in  the  schools  of 
Rev.  R.  Kinniburgh,  or  Dr.  Watson,  a  school  might  be  opened 
in  Hartford. 

Dr.  Cogswell  had  already  ascertained,  by  a  circular  ad- 
dressed to  the  Congregational  clergymen  of  Connecticut, 
that  there  were  at  least  eighty  deaf  mutes  in  the  State,  many 
of  whom  were  young  enough  to  attend  a  school,  and  his 
Christian  benevolence  prompted  the  aspiration  and  belief 
that  it  was  not  the  '  will  of  our  Father  who  is  in  Heaven 
that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish.'  With  these  data 
and  aims  before  him,  and  with  such  information  as  he  could 
gather  as  to  the  progress  and  results  of  deaf-mute  instruction 
in  Europe,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  Christian  benevolence 
and  kind  feelings  of  his  neighbors  and  friends,  for  their  co- 
operation. A  meeting  was  accordingly  held  at  his  house  on 
the  13th  of  April,  1815,  composed  (as  appears  from  a  journal 
kept  by  Mr.  Gallaudet)  of  Mason  F.  Cogswell,  M.  D., 
Ward  Woodbridge,  Esq.,  Daniel  Wadsworth,  Esq.,  Henry 
Hudson,  Esq.,  Hon.  Nathaniel  Terry,  John  Caldwell,  Esq., 
Daniel  Buck,  Esq.,  Joseph  Battel,  Esq.,  (of  Norfolk,)  the  Rev. 
Nathan  Strong,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Gallaudet.  The 
meeting  was  opened  with  the  invocation  of  the  Divine  bless- 
ing on  their  undertaking,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Strong,  and  after  a  full 
discussion  of  the  practicability  of  sending  some  suitable  per- 
son to  Europe,  to  acquire  the  art  of  instructing  the  deaf-^and 
dumb.  Dr.  Cogswell  and  IVIr.  Woodbridge  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  obtain  subscriptions  for  the  purpose,  and  ascer- 
tain the  name  of  a  suitable  person  who  would  consent  to  go. 
Mr.  Woodbridge  was  then  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  in  the 


14  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

front  rank  of  the  mercantile  interest  of  Hartford.  By  his  per- 
sonal solicitation,  and  the  example  of  his  own  liberal  sub- 
scription, he  succeeded  in  the  course  of  one  day  in  obtaining 
the  pledge  of  a  sufficient  sum  to  meet  the  expense  of  the  en- 
terprise, and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other  business  transac- 
tion of  his  life  is  now  associated  with  such  a  train  of  pleasant 
recollections.  He  and  Daniel  Buck,  Esq.,  are  now  the  only 
survivors  of  that  first  voluntary  association,  in  whose  prayers, 
pecuniary  contributions  and  personal  exertions,  the  American 
Asylum  had  its  origin.  Foremost  on  the  list  of  subscribers 
in  amount,  stands  the  name  of  Daniel  Wadsworth,  who  gave 
to  this  community,  through  a  long  life,  a  beautiful  example 
of  the  true  uses  of  wealth,  by  its  judicious  expenditure  under 
his  own  personal  inspection,  for  the  promotion  of  Christian, 
benevolent,  patriotic,  and  literary  purposes. 

To  Mr.  Gallaudet,  the  eyes  of  all  interested  in  the  object 
were  instinctively  turned,  as  the  one  person,  qualified  beyond 
all  others,  by  his  manners,  talents,  attainments,  and  Chris- 
tian spirit,  to  engage  in  this  mission.  After  much  prayerful 
consideration  of  the  subject,  and  not  till  he  had  failed  to  en- 
list the  agency  of  others  in  this  pioneer  work  of  benevolence, 
on  the  20th  of  April,  1815,  he  informed  Dr.  Cogswell  and 
Mr.  Woodbridge  "  that  he  would  visit  Europe  for  the  sake  of 
qualifying  himself  to  become  a  teacher  of  the  deaf  and  dumb 
in  this  country."  On  the  20th  of  May  following,  he  sailed 
for  New  York,  in  the  prosecution  of  his  benevolent  object. 

Before  leaving  America,  Mr.  Gallaudet  penned  the  fol- 
lowing address  to  the  benevolent  of  our  own  country,  in  be- 
half of  the  object  of  his  mission. 

"  Amid  all  the  calamities  which  have  of  late  darkened  the 
world,  it  is  matter  of  no  small  consolation  to  the  benevolent 
mind,  to  witness  the  various  efforts  which  are  making  for 
meliorating  the  condition  of  man.  Nor  will  the  hope  that 
rests*on  divine  revelation  be  deceived,  that  these  efforts,  under 
the  blessing  of  God,  will  eventually  terminate  in  the  univer- 
sal diffusion  of  peace  and  happiness  through  the  earth.  Be- 
nevolence directed  to  its  proper  object  will  not  be  lost.  The 
seed  may  be  long  hid  in  the  earth,  but  a  future  harvest  will 


TJiomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  15 

crown  honest  labor  with  success.  This  is  sufficient  to  en- 
courage those  eftbrts  for  doing  good,  which  in  their  present 
prosecution  may  be  attended  with  considerable  embarrass- 
ment, and  for  the  successful  result  of  which,  the  charity 
which  engages  in  them  must  be  liberal  enough  to  embrace 
in  its  view  generations  yet  unborn. 

"  Still  it  is  more  grateful  to  witness  the  effect  of  our  benefi- 
cence, to  see  the  smile  which  w^e  ourselves  have  lighted  upon 
the  cheek  of  sorrow,  and  to  hear  the  sound  of  cheerfulness 
which  our  own  charity  has  raised  from  the  tongue  of  suffering. 
And  where  the  object  of  relief  is  not  only  present,  but  owes 
its  misfortune  to  some  natural  calamity  or  inevitable  dispen- 
sation of  Providence  ;  where  the  impediments  and  difficulties 
under  which  it  labors  can  be  removed,  and  refined  intellect- 
ual and  moral  excellence  can  be  shed  upon  its  character,  as  it 
were  by  the  touch  of  our  beneficence,  then  it  becomes  a  de- 
lightful duty  to  imitate  the  example  of  him  who  went  about 
doing  good.  To  such  a  duty  it  is  the  object  of  this  paper  to 
direct  the  attention  of  the  benevolent. 

"  We  have  among  us  a  class  of  our  fellow  beings,  the  deaf 
and  dumb,  who  are  deprived  by  a  wise  Providence  of  many 
resources  of  improvement  and  happiness  with  which  the  rest 
of  mankind  are  favored.  Their  numbers,  their  condition,  and 
the  practicability  of  affording  them  relief,  address  loud  claims 
to  every  feeling  heart.  A  simple  statement  of  facts  will,  it  is 
hoped,  be  sufficient  to  excite  the  attention  of  the  benevolent 
to  this  interesting  subject. 

"  At  a  session  of  the  General  Association  of  the  Congrega- 
tional clergymen  of  Connecticut,  held  in  Sharon,  June,  1812, 
it  was  reported  by  a  committee  appointed  some  time  before 
for  the  purpose,  that  within  the  limits  of  the  several  associa- 
tions of  the  State,  there  were  eighty-four  deaf  and  dumb  per- 
sons. A  copy  of  this  report  is  in  the  possession  of  Doctor 
Mason  F.  Cogswell,  of  Hartford.  Now  no  reason  can  be 
given  why  the  whole  population  of  New  England  should  not 
contain  a  proportionate  number  of  the  deaf  and  dumb. 
Taking  the  Connecticut  as  the  standard,  New  England  con- 
tains more  than  four  hundred  persons  in  this  unhappy  situa- 


16  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

tion,  and  the  United  States  upwards  of  tivo  thousand.  If 
this  be  any  thing  like  the  true  number  of  those  who  in  New 
England  are  shut  out  at  present  from  almost  all  the  sources 
of  intellectual  and  moral  improvement,  what  a  subject  of  in- 
terest does  it  present  to  the  benevolent  heart. 

"  At  present  there  is  not  a  single  institution  of  the  deaf  and 
dumb  in  New  England.  The  benefits  of  such  institutions  will 
readily  present  themselves  to  the  reflecting  mind.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  inexpressible  consolation  which  would  be 
afforded  to  parents  and  friends  by  establishing  schools  for  the 
deaf  and  dumb  ;  nor  of  the  increase  of  enjoyment  and  use- 
fulness in  this  life,  which  would  thus  be  given  to  our  fellow- 
men,  the  one  single  consideration  of  their  having  immortal 
souls,  which  may,  by  learning  the  glad  news  of  salvation, 
become  interested  in  that  Saviour  who  died  for  all  men,  is 
sufficient  to  invest  this  subject  with  an  importance,  which  it 
is  thought,  nothing  but  the  want  of  information  has  hitherto 
denied  it.  Indeed  it  is  a  matter  of  some  wonder  that  New 
England,  so  attentive  to  the  interests  of  her  rising  generation, 
so  conspicuously  preeminent  among  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
for  what  her  civil  institutions  have  done  with  regard  to  the 
education  of  youth,  should  so  long  have  neglected  her  deaf 
and  dumb  children.  In  this  respect  she  is  far  behind  most 
of  the  countries  in  Europe.  In  London,  Edinburgh,  Paris, 
and  other  towns  on  the  continent,  there  have  been  for  many 
years,  schools  for  the  education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb.  And 
the  art  of  instructing  them  has  been  carried  to  such  a  degree 
of  perfection,  that  they  are  taught  almost  all  that  is  useful 
and  ornamental  in  life. 

"  However  much  it  may  surprise  those  who  are  unacquainted 
with  the  subject,  it  is  a  fact  capable  of  the  most  satisfactory 
proof,  that  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  Europe  have  been  taught, 
not  only  to  read  and  write,  and  understand  written  language 
with  exact  accuracy  and  precision,  but  in  some  cases  to  un- 
derstand spoken  language,  and  to  speak  themselves  audibly 
and  intelligibly.  Now  if  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  our  country 
can,  by  a  proper  course  of  instruction,  be  fitted  for  useful  and 
respectable  employment  in  life, — if  they  can  have  their  minds 


.Thomas  Hopkins  Galldudet.  17 

open  to  such  intellectual  and  moral  improvement  as  will  ren- 
der them  comfortable  and  happy  on  this  side  of  the  grave, — 
above  all,  if  they  can  be  made  acquainted  with  the  revelation 
of  God's  mercy  through  Jesus  Christ,  who  can  hesitate  to 
promote  an  object  which  is  pregnant  with  so  much  good,  and 
which  addresses  itself  to  the  most  enlarged  views  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence? 

"  In  pursuance  of  this  object,  should  it  meet  w^ith  sufficient 
encouragement,  it  will  become  necessary  for  the  intended  in- 
structor to  visit  Europe  for  the  sake  of  acquiring  this  art  of 
instructing  the  deaf  and  dumb,  which  has  there  been  carried 
to  a  great  degree  of  perfection.  For  this  pursuit,  like  most 
others,  depends  upon  the  wisdom  of  experience  for  its  suc- 
cessful prosecution.  This  paper  solicits  the  aid  of  those  who 
are  inclined  to  assist  the  promotion  of  the  proposed  object. 
The  honor  of  our  country,  the  cause  of  humanity,  the  inter- 
ests of  religion,  plead  in  its  behalf.  It  is  hoped  claims  so 
powerful  will  not  be  resisted." 

These  claims  were  not  unheeded, — the  number  of  subscri- 
bers and  the  amount  of  subscriptions  were  enlarged, — an  act 
of  incorporation  under  the  style  of  the  "  Connecticut  Asylum 
for  the  education  of  deaf  and  dumb  persons,"  was  obtained 
in  May,  1816,  which  was  changed  to  that  of  the  "  American 
Asylum"  in  1819,  on  the  occasion  of  a  grant  of  a  township  of 
public  land,  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  that 
year,  mainly  through  the  active  exertions  of  Hon.  Nathaniel 
Terry,  and  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Williams,  representatives  of  this 
State,  seconded  indeed  by  other  members  from  our  own  and 
other  States,  and  especially  by  the  then  Speaker  of  the  House, 
Hon.  Henry  Clay,  of  Kentucky. 

In  the  mean  time,  Mr.  Gallaudet  was  pursuing  the  objects 
of  his  mission  in  Europe.  Encountering  unexpected  delays 
in  obtaining  admission  as  a  pupil  into  the  London  Asylum,, 
then  under  the  care  of  Joseph  Watson,  LL.  D.,  he  had  made 
arrangements  to  spend  a  year  in  the  institution  at  Edinburgh^ 
which  was  also  likely  to  be  thwarted, — ^when  he  oppor- 
tunely gained  an  introduction  to  the  Abb6  Sicard,  who  was 
at  that  time  on  a  visit  to  London,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
2 


18  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

a  course  of  lectures  explanatory  of  his  method  of  teaching 
the  deaf  and  dumb,  accompanied  by  Massieu  and  Clerc, — his 
favorite  pupils  and  assistants.  By  this  benevolent  man,  one 
of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  deaf  mute,  Mr.  Gallaudet 
was  cordially  received,  and  invited  to  visit  Paris,  where  every 
facility  would  be  extended  to  him  without  fee,  or  hindrance 
of  any  kind.  As  illustrating  the  spirit  in  which  Mr.  Gal- 
laudet pursued  his  work,  the  following  extract  from  an  entry 
made  in  his  journal,  at  the  time  of  his  greatest  discourage- 
ments in  London,  and  the  day  before  he  heard  of  the  Abb^ 
Sicard's  presence  in  London,  is  given, 

"  Our  projects  are  often  thwarted  by  Providence  on  account 
of  our  sins,  Alas !  if  mine  have  contributed  to  the  produc- 
tion of  these  difficulties,  which  have  thus  far  attended  the 
undertaking  in  which  I  have  engaged,  most  deeply  would  I 
lament  the  injury  which  I  have  thus  done  the  poor  deaf  and 
dumb.  Can  I  make  them  any  recompense  ?  With  God's 
blessing,  it  shall  be  in  devoting  myself  more  faithfully  to 
their  relief.  I  long  to  be  surrounded  with  them  in  my  native 
land,  to  be  their  instructory-^lheir  guide,  their  friend,  their 
father.  How  much  is  yet  to  be  done  before  this  can  be  ac- 
complished! To  Almighty  God,  as  the  giver  of  all  good 
through  Jesus  Christ,  I  commend  myself  and  my  undertaking. 
He  is  able  to  do  all  things  for  me,  and  if  success  finally  crown 
my  efforts,  to  Him  be  all  the  glory." 

The  period  of  Mr,  Gallaudet's  stay  in  Paris  was  abridged 
i)y  an  event  which  is  thus  recorded  in  his  journal. 

"  Monday,  May  20th,  In  a  conversation  which  I  had  with 
Clerc  this  day,  he  proposed  going  to  America  with  me  as  an 
assistant,  if  the  Abbe  Sicard  would  give  his  consent." 

This  suggestion  was  acted  upon  without  delay.  The 
Abba's  cordial  consent  was  obtained,  although  he  felt  it  to 
be  a  great  sacrifice; — and  in  July,  Mr.  Gallaudet  had  the 
happiness  of  embarking  for  America,  with  Mr.  Laurent  Clerc, 
a  highly  educated  deaf  mute,  one  of  the  ablest  pupils  of 
Sicard,  and  best  teachers  of  the  Paris  Institution, — an  event 
of  scarcely  less  importance  to  the  immediate  success  of  the 
Americar\|Asylum,  than  Mr.  Gallaudet's  own  consent  to 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  19 

visit  Europe  in  its  behalf.  How  many  there  are  present  to- 
night who  can  testify  to  the  gratitude  to  God  and  his  friend, 
with  which  Mr.  Gallaudet  ever  recurred  to  that  conversa- 
tion in  Paris,  and  to  Mr.  Clerc's  consent  to  leave  his  home 
and  his  country  to  devote  himself  among  strangers  to  the 
instruction  of  those  who  were  afflicted  like  himself. 

How  touchingly  did  he  refer  to  that  event  in  his  address  at 
the  ever  memorable  gathering  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  this 
city,  thirty-four  years  afterward — "  What  should  I  have  ac- 
complished, if  the  same  kind  Providence  had  not  enabled  me 
to  bring  back  from  France,  his  native  land,  one  whom  we 
still  rejoice  to  see  among  us,  himself  a  deaf  mute,  intelligent 
and  accomplished,  trained  under  the  distinguished  Sicard,  at 
that  time  teaching  the  highest  class  in  the  Paris  Institution — 
to  be  my  coadjutor  here  at  home ;  to  excite  a  still  deeper  in- 
terest in  the  object  to  which  he  came  to  devote  his  talents 
and  efforts ;  to  assist  in  collecting  those  funds  which  were 
absolutely  essential  for  the  very  commencement  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Asylum ;  to  be  my  first,  and  for  a  time,  only  fel- 
low-laborer in  the  course  of  instruction,  and  then  to  render 
necessary  and  most  efficient  aid  in  preparing  for  their  work 
the  additional  teachers  who  were  needed." 

Although  he  came  to  a  land  of  strangers,  he  now  finds 
himself,  as  the  years  pass  lightly  over  him,  near  his  children 
and  grand  children,  amid  a  circle  of  appreciating  friends,  and 
a  generation  of  grateful  pupils,  who  will  ever  shower  bless- 
ings on  him  for  his  many  sacrifices  and  labors  in  their  behalf. 
Gently  may  the  hand  of  time  continue  to  fall  on  his  genial 
temperament  and  kind  affections,  and  long  may  it  be  be- 
fore one  of  his  surviving  associates  shall  be  called  on  to 
pay  a  passing  tribute  like  that  in  which  we  are  now  engaged, 
to  his  services  and  his  worth. 

The  eight  months  immediately  following  their  arrival 
(August  9, 1816)  in  this  country,  were  mainly  spent  in  soli- 
citing pecuniary  aid  for  the  Asylum,  and  in  making  known 
its  objects  to  the  benevolent,  and  to  all  who  were  directly  in- 
terested from  having  sons  or  daughters  afflicted  with  the 
privation  of  the  senses  of  hearing  and  speaking.     With  this 


20  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

end  in  view,  the  cities  of  New  Haven,  Salem,  New  York, 
Albany,  Philadelphia,  and  Burlington,  were  visited,  and  lib- 
eral subscriptions  obtained.  The  following  heading  of  one 
of  the  subscription  papers,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Gallaudet,  sets 
forth  the  views  of  the  institution. 

"  A  new  and  interesting  charity  presents  its  claims  to  the 
benevolent.  Its  object  is  to  open  the  sources  of  intellectual 
and  religious  improvement  to  a  very  unfortunate  class  of  our 
countrymen,  the  deaf  and  dumb.  Its  views  have  nothing  of 
a  local  kind.  Its  constitution  invites  to  the  direction  of  its 
concerns,  individuals  of  any  of  the  States.  It  has  chosen  fon 
the  place  of  its  establishment  a  central  spot  in  a  healthy  and 
economical  part  of  our  country,  and  nothing  now  is  wanting 
but  public  patronage  to  raise  it  to  that  degree .  of  permanent 
and  extensive  usefulness  which  the  importance  of  the  object 
to  which  it  is  devoted  demands. 

"  Very  considerable  funds  will  be  necessary  for  the  support 
and  education  of  the  children  of  the  indigent.  It  is  pecu- 
liarly over  these  unfortunates  who  are  without  resources  of 
their  own,  and  who  cannot  be  maintained  and  instructed  by 
their  immediate  relations  and  friends,  that  the  proposed  asy- 
lum wishes  to  cast  the  mantle  of  its  protection. 

"  It  seeks  to  restore  them  to  society  with  habits  of  practical 
usefulness,  with  capacities  of  intellectual  enjoyment,  and 
above  all,  in  the  possession  of  the  hope  of  immortality  through 
Jesus  Christ.  It  expects  soon  to  commence  under  very 
favorable  auspices.  Its  principal  instructor  has  visited  insti- 
tutions of  a  similar  kind  in  London,  Edinburgh  and  Paris. 
His  assistant,  who  is  himself  deaf  and  dumb,  is  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  pupils  of  the  celebrated  Abb^  Sicard,  and 
has  been  for  eight  years  an  instructor  in  the  Royal  Institution 
for  this  unfortunate  class  of  persons  in  Paris. 

"  In  Europe,  experience  has  taught  the  necessity  of  giving 
to  such  establishments  considerable  magnitude  and  resources. 
It  is  in  such  alone  that  this  singular  department  of  educa- 
tion can  be  carried  to  its  greatest  degree  of  excellence,  that 
the  pupils  can  be  supported  and  instructed  at  the  least  ex- 
pense, that  they  can  feel  that  excitement  which  is  found  to 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet  21 

be  the  result  of  assembling  them  together  in  considerable 
numbers,  and  that  instructors  can  be  trained  for  other  institu- 
tions when  they  are  found  necessary.  Such  establishments 
now  flourish  in  almost  every  European  state. 

"  Princes  are  •  their  patrons,  and  public  munificence  has 
raised  them  to  eminent  and  extensive  usefulness.  The  first 
and  infant  institution  of  this  kind  in  America,  now  pleads  in 
the  name  of  those  whom  it  seeks  to  relieve.  Its  object  it 
fondly  trusts  will  unite  the  wishes  and  secure  the  aid  of  all 
who  feel  for  the  honor  of  their  country,  for  the  cause  of 
humanity,  and  for  the  diffusion  among  all  minds  of  that  reli- 
gion whose  founder  exhibited  not  only  the  most  endearing 
trait  of  his  character,  but  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of  his 
Messiahship,  in  opening  the  ears  of  the  deaf  and  in  causing 
the  tongue  of  the  dumb  to  sing  for  joy." 

After  two  years  of  preparation,  spent  in  organizing  an 
association  based  on  the  principle  of  permanency,  raising 
funds,  training  and  procuring  teachers,  and  making  its  objects 
known  through  the  press,  personal  interviews,  and  public  ad- 
dresses, the  Asylum  was  opened,  with  a  class  of  seven 
pupils,  on  Wednesday,  the  15th  of  April,  1817,  in  the  south 
part  of  the  building  now  occupied  by  the  City  Hotel.  On 
the  Sunday  evening  following — April  20th — just  two  years 
after  he  had  signified  his  assent  to  devote  himself  to  this  en- 
terprise, Mr.  Gallaudet  delivered  a  discourse,  in  the  Center 
Congregational  Church  before  a  crowded  audience,  and  in 
the  presence  of  his  interesting  group  of  seven  pupils,  from  the 
words  of  Isaiah — "  Then  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened) 
and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  unstopped.  Then  shall  the  lame  man 
leap  as  a  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  sing ;  for  in  the 
wilderness  waters  shall  break  out,  and  streams  in  the 
desert" — in  which  he  sets  forth  the  advantages  likely  to  arise 
from  the  establishment  of  the  Asylum,  and  the  motives  which 
should  inspire  those  who  are  interested  in  its  welfare  with 
renewed  zeal  and  the  hopes  of  ultimate  success.  On  rising 
from  a  fresh  perusal  of  this  admirable  discourse,  written  in 
such  pure,  polished,  and  idiomatic  English,  and  breathing  so 
much  of  the  spirit  of  Him,  by  whose  miraculous  agency  the 


22  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet 

ears  of  the  deaf  were  opened,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb 
loosened ;  and  contrasting  that  group  of  seven  pupils,  ignorant, 
isolated  and  unhappy,  and  the  moral  desert  in  which  the  deaf 
mute  then  dwelt,  with  the  thousands  of  the  same  class  who 
have  since  been  instructed,  and  the  thousand  homes  which 
have  since  been  cheered  and  blessed,  and  all  the  good,  direct 
and  indirect,  to  the  cause  of  Christian  philanthropy  which 
has  flowed  out  of  these  small  beginnings — ^we  seem  almost  to 
stand  at  the  well-spring  of  that  river  of  life,  seen  in  the  vision 
of  the  prophet,  which,  flowing  out  from  beneath  the  sanctu- 
ary, and  on  the  right  hand  of  the  altar,  into  the  wilder- 
ness, a  little  rill  that  could  be  stepped  over,  widened  and 
deepened  in  its  progress,  till  it  became  a  mighty  stream, — 
a  stream  which  could  not  be  passed,  imparting  life  wherever 
it  came,  and  nourishing  all  along  its  banks,  trees,  whose 
fruit  was  for  meat,  and  whose  leaves  for  medicine. 

From  time  to  time,  in  the  course  of  every  year,  before  the 
legislatures  of  the  several  New  England  States,  in  the  halls 
of  Congress,  in  all  of  the  large  cities  of  the  Northern  and 
Middle  States,  Mr.  Gallaudet,  accompanied  and  assisted 
by  Mr.  Clerc,  and  not  unfrequently,  by  a  class  of  pupils, — 
continued  to  present,  and  advocate  the  claims  of  the  deaf 
mute  on  the  benevolent  regards  of  individuals  and  public 
bodies.  The  way  was  thus  prepared  for  that  liberality  which 
has  since  marked  the  legislation  of  the  country,  by  which  the 
education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb  has  become  part  of  the  pub- 
lic policy  of  all  the  older,  and  most  of  the  new  States. 

As  illustrating  the  spirit  of  the  man, — and  especially  the 
spirit  of  trust  in  God, — the  looking  to  his  grace  for  help  in 
all  his  undertakings,  the  following  extracts  are  taken  from  a 
journal  in  which,  during  his  early  connection  with  the  Asy- 
lum, he  was  accustomed  to  enter  from  time  to  time  his 
progress  and  private  aspirations. 

"  Sunday,  January  25,  1818.  I  am  now  surrounded  with 
thirty-one  pupils.  Mr.  Clerc  has  been  ten  days  absent  on  a 
visit  to  Washington.  During  the  time  which  has  elapsed 
since  the  opening  of  the  Asylum,  I  have  had  to  encounter 
great  trials.      Now   I  am   quite   exhausted   in   health    and 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  23 

strength.  Oh !  that  God  would  appear  for  me,  and  make 
haste  to  help  me.  If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  long  but  for 
one  kind  of  happiness,  that  of  zealous  and  cheerful  activity  in 
doing  good.  I  have  of  late  began  to  ponder  a  good  deal  on 
the  difficulty  of  my  continuing  to  be  the  principal  of  such  an 
establishment  as  this,  with  which  I  am  now  connected,  will 
probably  be.  Most  gladly  would  I  hail  as  my  superior  here 
and  as  the  head  of  this  Asylum,  some  one  of  acknowledged 
piety  and  talents,  and  of  more  force  of  character  than  myself. 
Alas !  how  is  my  energy  gone !  How  I  shrink  from  difficul- 
ties!— Oh!  Almighty  God!  in  thy  wise  providence  thou  hast 
placed  me  in  my  present  situation.  Thou  seest  my  heart. 
Thou  knowest  my  desire  is  to  be  devoted  to  thy  service,  and 
to  be  made  the  instrument  of  training  up  the  deaf  and  dumb 
for  heaven.  Oh !  turn  not  a  deaf  ear  to  my  regrets.  Oh ! 
raise  me  from  this  bodily  and  intellectual  and  religious  leth- 
argy, which  has  now  so  long  prostrated  all  the  energies  and 
deadened  the  affections  of  my  soul ; — Oh  !  show  me  clearly 
the  path  of  duty,  and  teach  me  more  submission  to  thy  holy 
will,  more  self  denial  and  humility — more  penitence  and  per- 
severance ; — Oh  !  grant  me  some  indication  of  thy  favor  and 
thy  love.  Oh !  touch  the  heart  of  my  dear  friend  Clerc  with 
godly  soiTOW  for  sin,  and  with  an  unfeigned  reliance  on 
Jesus  Christ.  Oh !  lead  my  dear  pupils  to  the  same  Saviour- 
Oh!  God  forsake  me  not.  Cast  me  not  away  from  thy 
presence.     Take  not  thy  holy  spirit  from  me." 

Again,  a  few  years  later,  the  following  entry  was  made. 

"  As  connected  with  the  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb, 
I  do  hope  to  feel  anxious  to  discharge  my  duties  in  the  fear 
of  God.  I  invoke  his  grace  to  qualify  me,  and  I  renewedly 
consecrate  myself,  soul,  spirit  and  body,  to  the  service  of 
Jesus  Christ.  I  beseech  God  to  guard  me  against  all  concern, 
(1st.)  About  my  own  temporal  concerns.  Oh  !  may  I  be  led  to 
take  no  thought  in  this  respect  for  the  morrow,  but  to  leave 
God  to  furnish  me  with  what  temporal  comforts  he  may  see 
best  for  me,  and  not  ever  form  my  plans  for  pecuniary  emol- 
ument; (2ndly.)  Against  all  undue  anxiety  respecting  the 
management  of  the  Asylum  by  its  directors.    Oh  !  may  I  have 


24  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

a  meek,  quiet,  uncomplaining  spirit  with  regard  to  all  that  they 
may  do,  however  unwise  it  may  seem  to  be  according  to  my 
poor,  weak,  fallible  judgment.  May  I  strive  each  day  to  do 
all  the  good  I  can  to  the  souls  of  my  dear  pupils,  and  calmly 
resign  every  thing  which  lies  out  of  my  own  immediate 
sphere  of  duty  into  the  hand  of  him  who  will  overrule  all 
things,  however  adverse  they  may  seem,  for  his  own  glory  : 
(3dly.)  Against  all  uncharitable  feelings  against  any  who  are 
associated  with  me  in  the  internal  management  of  the  Asy- 
lum. May  I  rather  be  careful  to  examine  my  own  heart  and 
conduct,  and  consider  how  far  shall  I  fail  of  doing  my  duty 
conscientiously  and  zealously.  (4thly.)  Against  any  regard  to 
public  opinion,  while  I  have  the  approbation  of  my  own  con- 
science. (5thly.)  Against  the  corruption  of  my  own  heart,  and 
my  daily  besetting  sins.  Oh  I  for  grace  to  gain  an  entire 
victory  over  them,  and  to  be  conformed  in  all  things  to  the 
blessed  example  of  Jesus  Christ.  Oh  God !  I  implore  the  aid 
of  thy  divine  spirit  to  assist  me  in  all  these  respects,  and  to 
thy  name  shall  be  all  the  glory,  through  Jesus  Christ.  Amen 
and  Amen." 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  follow  any  further  in  detail 
Mr.  Gallaudet's  labors  in  connection  with  the  American 
Asylum  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  deaf  and  dumb.  These 
labors  were  eminently  judicious  and  successful ;  and  although 
in  an  undertaking  of  such  magnitude  there  are  many  agencies 
and  many  laborers,  and  all  those  who  work  at  the  foundation, 
or  even  beyond  that,  who  gather  slowly  the  material  and 
the  laborers, — and  those  who  work  on  the  top  stone,  or  the 
ornaments, — perform  a  necessary  and  an  honorable  part, 
and  all  deserve  to  be  remembered  with  gratitude,  still,  it  is 
instinctively  and  universally  felt  that  the  directing  mind  in 
this  great  enterprise, — in  its  inception,  its  gradual  maturing, 
and  ultimate  organization, — is  that  of  Thomas  Hopkins 
Gallaudet.  Of  this  we  are  sure,  that  he  worked  incessantly 
and  wisely,  and  out  to  the  full  circumference  of  his  duty  and 
ability.  His  labors  and  anxieties,  necessarily  attendant  on 
such  an  undertaking, — the  striking  out  of  new  plans  and 
methods,  the  reconcilement  of  differing  views  in   different 


Tliomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  25 

departments  of  authority  and  instruction,  until  the  best  work- 
ing plan  was  in  successful  operation,  were  too  much  for  a 
temperament  naturally  so  excitable  as  his,  and  for  a  constitu- 
tion never  robust.  He  accordingly  felt  it  necessary  to  resign 
his  place  as  Principal  of  the  American  Asylum  in  1830, 
although  he  never  ceased  to  take  an  active  interest  as  director 
in  its  affairs,  and  was  always  consulted  up  to  his  last  illness 
with  filial  confidence  and  affection,  by  the  instructors  and 
directors  of  the  institution. 

Before  passing  into  other  fields  of  his  useful  life,  it  would 
be  doing  injustice  to  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and  especially,  to 
those  who  have  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  the  American  Asy- 
lum, not  to  add,  that  they  have  ever  shown  a  filial  respect  and 
affection  towards  Mr.  Gallaudet,  while  living,  and  are  now 
engaged  in  raising  the  necessary  funds  to  erect  in  the  grounds 
of  the  institution,  some  permanent  memorial  of  their  grati- 
tude. The  world  has  seldom  witnessed  a  more  novel  and 
affecting  spectacle,  than  was  exhibited  in  the  Center  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Hartford,  on  the  26th  of  September 
1850,  where  a  large  number  of  the  graduates  of  the  institu- 
tion assembled  to  testify,  by  the  presentation  of  silver  plate, 
their  affectionate  respect  to  their  first  teachers,  Messrs.  Gal- 
laudet and  Clerc,  as  the  chief  immediate  instruments  of 
their  own  elevation  in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  usefulness,  and 
happiness,  and  the  primary  agents  in  procuring  all  the  prac- 
tical blessings  which  education  has  given,  and  is  still  be- 
stowing on  the  whole  class  of  deaf  mutes  in  this  country. 
Including  the  present  pupils  of  the  Asylum,  there  were  over 
four  hundred  of  this  unfortunate  class  present,  as  large,  and 
probably  the  largest  assemblage  of  the  kind  ever  seen  in  the 
world, — ^with  intelligent  joy  beaming  from  all  their  faces,  and 
gratitude  displayed  in  their  animated  and  expressive  lan- 
guage of  signs.  What  a  striking  contrast  to  the  little  group 
of  seven  pupils,  ignorant,  lonely,  and  disconsolate,  who  gath- 
ered in  the  same  place  a  little  more  than  thirty-four  years 
before !  Surely,  peace  and  benevolence  have  their  victories  no 
less  than  war.  Of  a  truth,  '  the  wilderness  and  solitary  place 
have  been  made  glad  by  the  breaking  out  of  living  waters. 


26  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

and  the  desert  rejoiceth  and  blossoms  as  the  rose, — the  ran- 
somed of  the  Lord  have  returned  with  songs  and  everlasting 
joy  upon  their  head.' 

The  repose  from  constant  occupation  in  the  instruction 
and  oversight  of  the  affairs  of  the  Asylum,  which  his  resigna- 
tion afforded  him,  was  devoted  by  Mr.  Gallaudet  to  the 
prosecution  of  literary  pursuits,  as  congenial  to  his  tastes  and 
early  habits,  and  as  a  means  of  supporting  his  family.  He 
was  distinguished  while  in  college  for  his  facility  and  felicity 
in  English  composition,  and  the  volume  of  Discourses, 
preached  by  him  in  the  chapel  of  the  Oratoire,  while  studying 
in  Paris,  and  published  in  1817,  in  which  the  purity  at  once 
of  his  literary  taste  and  Christian  character  are  displayed  would 
alone  entitle  him  to  a  prominent  place  among  the  worthies  of 
the  American  pulpit.  In  1831,  he  published  the  Child's  Book 
on  the  Soul,  which  exhibits  his  remarkable  tact  in  bringing 
the  most  abstract  subject  within  the  grasp  of  the  feeblest 
and  youngest  mind.  This  little  volume  has  gone  through  a 
large  number  of  editions  in  this  country  and  in  England,  and 
has  been  translated  into  the  French,  Spanish,  German  and 
Italian  languages.  This  publication  was  followed  by  several 
others  of  the  same  character,  and  which  were  widely  read. 
His  Mother's  Primer  has  lightened  the  task  of  infantile 
instruction  in  many  homes  and  many  schools,  and  his  Defin- 
ing Dictionary,  and  Practical  Spelling-Book,  composed  in 
connection  with  Rev.  Horace  Hooker,  rigidly  and  persever- 
ingly  followed,  are  invaluable  guides  to  teacher  and  pupil 
to  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  meaning  and  use  of  our 
language  in  composition  and  conversation.  At  the  urgent 
request  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  he  commenced  in 
1833,  the  publication  of  a  series  of  volumes  under  the  general 
title  of  Scripture  Biography,  which  was  incomplete  at  the 
time  of  his  death, — but  which  as  far  as  published  are  to  be 
found  in  most  of  the  Sunday  School  and  Juvenile  Libraries 
of  our  country.  In  1835  he  published  the  first  part  of  a 
work,  with  the  title  of  the  Every-Day  Christian,  in  which  he 
endeavoFS  to  delineate  certain  traits  of  Christian  character, 
and  to  lead  his  readers  to  the  consideration  of  certain  every- 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  27 

day  duties,  which  are  in  danger  of  being  overlooked  amid  the 
occupations  and  pursuits  of  this  world.  In  this  volume  he 
unfolds  at  some  length  his  own  ideal  of  a  Christian  life  as 
exhibited  in  the  family  state,  and  in  the  faithful  and  consci- 
entious performance  of  a  class  of  duties,  which,  although 
unseen,  are  essential  parts  of  the  vast  moral  machinery  which 
the  Almighty  Hand  is  wielding  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  designs  of  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Goodness.  The  plan  of 
the  work  was  probably  suggested  by  a  movement  on  the 
part  of  many  of  our  public-spirited  and  benevolent  citizens  in 
the  winter  of  1834-35,  to  promote  the  cause  of  moral  reform 
among  the  youth  of  our  city.  The  prosecution  of  the  objectj 
to  Mr.  Gallaudet's  mind,  was  accompanied  with  too  much 
denunciation  of  amusements,  innocent  in  themselves,  and 
objectionable  only  when  pursued  too  far  and  under  circum- 
stances calculated  to  lead  to  excessive  indulgence,  and  to 
vicious  associations  and  associates.  His  mode  of  keeping 
young  people  out  of  places  of  idle  and  corrupting  resort,  as 
set  forth  in  a  public  address  at  that  time,  and  more  elabo- 
rately in  this  little  volume,  is  to  make  home  pleasant  and 
attractive, — to  cultivate  the  taste  and  the  habits  of  reading, 
of  fireside  amusements  and  social  intercourse, — and  to  make 
home  attractive  not  only  to  the  children  of  the  family,  but  to 
clerks  and  apprentices,  who  may  be  in  the  employment  or 
under  the  guardianship  of  the  head  of  the  family. 

Valuable  as  these  publications  are,  both  in  the  matter  and 
manner  of  their  execution,  and  popular  as  many  of  them 
have  been  and  still  are,  they  are  only  the  indications  of  what 
he  might  have  accomplished  in  this  department  of  author- 
ship, if  he  had  enjoyed  firmer  health  and  more  leisure  for 
meditation  and  study. 

I  presume  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  IVIr.  Gallaudet  never  rose  in 
the  morning  without  having  in  his  mind  or  on  his  hands  some 
extra  duty  of  philanthrophy  to  perform, — something  beyond 
what  attached  to  him  from  his  official  or  regular  engage- 
ments. His  assistance  was  asked  w  henever  an  appeal  was 
to  be  made  to  the  public,  in  behalf  of  a  benevolent  or /eligious 
object,  which  required  the  exercise  of  a  cultivated  intellect, 


28  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

the  impulses  of  a  benevolent  heart,  and  the  personal  influence 
of  a  character  confessedly  above  all  political  and  sectarian 
principles. 

Not  a  stranger  visited  our  city,  any  way  interested  in 
public  charities,  or  educational  institutions  or  movements, 
who  did  not  bring  letters  of  introduction  or  seek  an  inter- 
view with  him, — and  no  man  among  us  was  so  ready  to 
discharge  the  rights  of  hospitality  and  courteous  attentions 
to  strangers. 

There  is  scarcely  an  institution  or  movement  among  us, 
devoted  to  the  promotion  of  education,  or  the  relief  of  suffer- 
ing humanity,  which  did  not  enjoy  the  benefit  of  his  wise 
counsel,  or  receive  his  active  cooperation.  In  these  and  other 
ways  his  time  and  thoughts  were  so  completely  occupied,  or 
distracted,  that  he  enjoyed  but  little  leisure  for  profound  med- 
itation, or  the  original  investigation  of  any  subject,  and  much 
less  for  that  elaboration,  which  even  the  happiest  efforts  of 
genius  require  to  ensure  a  lasting  reputation. 

Although  through  his  whole  life  a  practical  educator  and 
teacher,  it  was  during  this  period  that  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  the  friend,  and  efficient  promoter  by  pen  and  voice, 
of  educational  improvement.  On  all  movements  in  behalf 
of  general  education  in  institutions  and  methods,  he  formed 
his  own  opinions  with  his  usual  caution,  and  maintained 
them  with  courtesy  and  firmness.  While  he  acknowledged 
the  fact  of  mutual  instruction  in  the  family  and  in  life,  which 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  Bell's  and  Lancaster's  systems  of 
monitorial  instruction,  as  an  educational  principle  of  univer- 
sal application  in  schools,  and  always  advocated  and  prac- 
ticed the  employment  of  older  children  in  the  family,  and  of 
the  older  and  more  advanced  pupils  in  the  school,  in  the  work 
of  instructing  and  governing  the  younger  and  least  advanced, 
he  never  countenanced  for  a  moment  the  idea  which  swept 
over  our  country  from  1820  to  1830,  that  monitors,  young 
and  inexperienced  in  instruction  and  life,  could  ever  supply 
the  place,  in  schools,  of  professionally  trained  teachers  of  ma- 
ture age^  thorough  mental  discipline,  and  high  moral  char- 
acter. 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  29 

Although  he  always  advocated,  and  applied  in  his  own 
family  and  family  school,  the  principles  of  infant  education, 
commencing  with  the  child  while  in  the  arms  of  the  mother 
and  the  lap  of  the  father,  he  kept  aloof  from  the  efforts  which 
were  so  generally  put  forth  in  our  larger  cities,  from  1826  to 
1832,  for  the  establishment  of  infant  schools,  as  then  under- 
stood and  conducted.  He  sympathized  deeply  in  the  move- 
ment for  the  establishment  of  manual  labor  schools  from 
1832  to  1838,  and  was  the  constant  advocate  of  more 
thorough  physical  education  in  institutions  of  every  grade, 
from  the  family  to  the  professional  school.  Although  not 
strictly  the  first  to  present  to  the  people  of  Connecticut  aud 
of  New  England,  the  necessity  of  providing  special  institu- 
tions for  the  professional  training  of  young  men  and  young 
women  for  the  office  of  teaching,  his  Letters  of  a  Father, 
published  in  the  Connecticut  Observer  in  1825,  and  after- 
ward circulated  in  a  pamphlet,  were  among  the  earliest  and 
most  effective  publications  on  the  subject. 

He  was  among  the  most  earnest  to  call  attention,  in  conver- 
sation, through  the  press,  and  in  educational  meetings,  to  the 
whole  subject  of  female  education,  and  especially  to  the  more 
extensive  employment  of  females  as  teachers.  His  hopes 
for  the  regeneration  of  society,  and  especially  for  the  infusion 
of  a  more  refined  culture  in  manners  and  morals  into  the  fam- 
ily, and  especially  into  common  schools,  rested  on  the  influ- 
ence of  pious  and  educated  women  as  mothers  and  teachers. 
He  was  early  interested  in  the  establishment  of  the  Hartford 
Female  Seminary,  and  delivered  an  address  in  1827  in  its 
behalf,  which  was  pubfished.  He  was  connected  with  the 
general  supervision  of  the  Seminary,  and  with  its  instruction 
as  lecturer  on  composition  and  moral  philosophy,  in  1833. 

Although,  in  the  absence  of  such  common  schools  as  could 
meet  his  views  of  the  wants  of  his  own  children,  especially  in 
all  that  regards  moral  and  religious  culture,  and  personal  hab- 
its and  manners,  he  for  years  established  a  small  family 
school  for  the  education  of  his  own  children,  and  the  chil- 
dren of  his  immediate  friends,  he  was  ever  the  advocate  of 
the  most  liberal  appropriation,  and  of  the  most  complete  or- 


30  Tliomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

ganization,  instruction  and  discipline  of  public  or  common 
schools, — and  he  did  much,  by  pen  and  voice,  to  advocate 
their  improvement.  As  has  already  been  stated,  so  early  as 
1825,  he  fixed  for  the  first  time  the  attention  of  educators, 
and  to  some  extent  of  the  public,  on  the  source  of  all  radical 
and  extensive  improvement  of  them  and  all  schools,  in  the 
professional  training  of  teachers.  In  1827  he  was  an  active 
member  of  the  Society  for  the  Improvement  of  Common 
Schools,  of  which  Hon.  Roger  Minot  Sherman  was  Presi- 
dent, and  the  Rev.  Horace  Hooker  and  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Robbins,  D.  D.,  the  real  laborers, — one  of  the  first,  if  not  the 
first  society  of  the  kind  in  this  country.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  arrangements  in  the  teachers'  con- 
vention held  in  Hartford,  in  October,  1830,  of  which  Noah 
"Webster,  LL.  D.,  was  President.  The  discussions  in  that 
convention,  of  such  topics  as  the  influence  of  the  school  fund 
as  the  main  reliance  of  the  people  for  the  support  of  common 
schools,  in  which  Dr.  Humphrey,  then  President  of  Amherst 
College,  a  native  of  this  State,  and  a  teacher  for  many  years 
in  our  district  schools,  took  an  active  part ; — the  proper  con- 
struction of  school-houses,  on  which  subject  Dr.  William  A. 
Alcott  read  a  paper,  which  was  afterward  published  as  a 
prize  essay  by  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  and 
circulated  all  over  the  country  ; — the  qualifications  of  teach- 
ers, which  was  ably  presented  in  a  lecture  by  Rev.  Gustavus 
Davis, — had  a  powerful  influence  on  the  cause  of  educational 
improvement  throughovit  New  England.  In  1833  he  wrote 
a  little  tract,  entitled  Public  Schools  Public  Blessings,  which 
was  published  by  the  New  York  Public  School  Society  for 
general  circulation  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  a  time  when 
an  effort  was  made,  which  proved  successful,  to  enlarge  the 
operations  of  that  society. 

In  1838,  he  was  the  person,  and  the  only  person,  had  in 
view,  to  fill  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners of  Common  Schools  in  Connecticut,  when  the  bill 
was  drafted  for  a  pubHc  act  "  to  provide  for  the  better  super- 
vision of  common  schools  "  in  Connecticut.  The  post  was 
urged  on  his  acceptance,  with  the  offer  and  guaranty  by  indi- 


Tliomas  Hopkins  GaUaudet.  31 

viduals  of  an  addition  of  one-third  to  the  salary  paid  by  the 
State.  He  declined,  mainly  from  his  unwillingness  to  absent 
himself  as  much  from  his  family  as  the  plan  of  operations 
contemplated, — and  also  "because  of  the  apathy  as  to  the 
importance  of  this  cause,  which  he  had  many  reasons  to 
know  weighed  not  only  on  the  public  mind  generally,  but  on 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  good  men,  and  even  Christians,  who 
take  an  active  and  liberal  part  in  other  moral  and  religious 
movements.  To  break  up  this  apathy,  requires  more  of 
youthful  strength  and  enthusiasm  than  can  be  found  in  an 
invalid  and  a  man  of  fifty  years  of  age."  In  a  conversation 
held  w^ith  the  individual  who  afterward  entered  on  this  field 
of  labor,  through  his  earnest  solicitations,  Mr.  Gallaudet 
anticipated  the  difficulties  which  that  enterprise  afterward 
encountered,  and  which  he  feared  would  "  probably  not  en- 
tirely defeat,  but  must  inevitably  postpone  its  success.  But 
never  mind,  the  cause  is  worth  laboring  and  suffering  for, 
and  enter  on  your  work  with  a  manly  trust  that  the  people 
will  yet  see  its  transcendent  importance  to  them  and  their 
children  to  the  latest  posterity,  and  that  God  will  bless  an 
enterprise  fraught  with  so  much  of  good  to  every  plan  of 
local  benevolence."  The  measures  of  that  Board,  and  of 
their  Secretary,  were  determined  on  after  consultation  with 
him, — and  in  all  the  preliminary  operations,  those  measures 
had  his  personal  cooperation.  In  company  with  the  Secre- 
tary, he  visited  every  county  in  the  State  in  1838,  and  ad- 
dressed conventions  of  teachers,  school  officers  and  parents. 
He  took  part  in  the  course  of  instruction  of  the  first  normal 
clg^ss,  or  teachers'  institute,  held  in  this  country,  in  1839, 
and  again  in  a  similar  institute  in  1840.  He  appeared  be- 
fore the  Joint  Committee  of  Education  in  the  General  As- 
sembly, on  several  occasions  when  appropriations  for  a  nor- 
mal school  were  asked  for.  He  was  one  of  the  lecturers  in 
the  teachers'  convention  held  in  Hartford  in  1846, — and 
had  the  gratification  of  welcoming  to  the  State  Normal 
School  at  New  Britain,  in  1850,  the  first  class  of  pupil  teach- 
ers, and  of  taking  part  in  their  instruction.  He  was  to  have 
delivered  a  public  address  before  one  of  the  literary  societies  in 


32  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

that  institution,  called,  in  gratitude  for  his  early  and  constant 
advocacy  of  normal  schools,  after  his  name,  at  the  first  an- 
niversary of  the  State  Normal  School  in  September,  1851. 

Mr.  Gallaudet  was  a  contributor  at  different  times  to  the 
Annals  of  Education,  while  under  the  charge  of  William  C. 
Woodbridge,  and  to  th*e  Connecticut  Common  School  Jour- 
nal from  1838  to  1842.  In  1839  he  edited  an  American  edi- 
tion of  "  Principles  of  Teaching,  by  Henry  Dunn,  Secretary 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  London,"  under 
the  title  of  Schoolmaster's  Manual — a  truly  valuable  work, 
which  has  gone  through  many  editions  in  England. 

He  took  an  active  interest  in  the  lyceum  movement,  from 
1826  to  1840, — and  particularly  in  the  Goodrich  Association, 
in  1831,  under  whose  auspices  the  first  course  of  popular  lec- 
tures was  delivered  in  this  city, — and  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  American  Lyceum,  at  its  annual  meeting  in  Hartford,  in 
1838,  out  of  which  originated  the  Hartford  Young  Men's  In- 
stitute in  the  same  year.  In  fine,  he  sympathized  with,  and 
participated,  so  far  as  his  health  and  other  engagements 
would  allow,  in  every  movement  which  aimed  to  elevate,  pu- 
rify and  bless  society  through  a  wide-spread  system  of  popu- 
lar education.  Universal  intelligence,  he  has  somewhere 
said,  under  the  influence  of  sound  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciple, and  difiiised,  in  connection  with  other  modes  of  doing 
it,  through  the  extensive  medium  of  common  schools,  so  as 
to  embrace  the  whole  rising  generation,  is  to  constitute,  with 
the  blessing  of  God,  the  security,  the  ornament,  and  the  hap- 
piness of  the  social  state,  and  to  render  it  (what  we  ought 
ever  to  regard  as  its  principal  value)  the  propitious  auxiliary 
to  our  preparation  for  a  higher  and  nobler  condition  of  being 
beyond  the  grave. 

In  1837,  the  county  of  Hartford,  through  the  exertions 
mainly  of  Alfred  Smith  Esq.,  erected  a  prison,  on  a  plan 
which  admitted  of  a  classification  of  the  prisoners,  of  their 
entire  separation  at  night,  of  their  employment  in  labor  un- 
der constant  supervision  by  day,  and  of  their  receiving  ap- 
propriate moral  and  religious  instruction.  Mr.  Gallaudet 
sympathized  warmly  with  this  movement,  and  in  the  ab- 


Thomas  Hopkins   Gallaudet.  33 

sence  of  any  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  county  commis- 
sioners to  employ  the  services  of  a  chaplain  and  religious 
teacher,  volunteered  to  discharge  these  duties  without  pay. 
He  continued  to  perform  religious  service  every  Sabbath 
morning  for  eight  years,  and  to  visit  the  prison  from  time  to 
time  during  each  week,  whenever  he  had  reason  to  suppose 
his  presence  and  prayers  were  particularly  desired.  In  such 
labors  of  love  to  the  criminal  and  neglected,  unseen  of  men, 
and  not  known,  I  presume,  to  twenty  individuals  in  Hartford, 
the  genuine  philanthropy  and  Christian  spirit  of  this  good 
man  found  its  pleasantest  field  of  exercise. 

On  the  6th  of  June,  1838,  Mr.  Gallaudet  became  con- 
nected with  the  Connecticut  Retreat  for  the  Insane,  as  Chap- 
lain, the  duties  of  which  office  he  continued  to  discharge 
with  exemplary  fidelity  and  happy  results,  up  to  the  day  of 
his  last  illness.  Although  the  directors  of  this  institution 
were  the  first  to  make  an  appointment  of  this  character,  not 
only  for  the  purpose  of  daily  family  worship,  and  relig- 
ious worship  on  the  Sabbath  for  its  officers  and  inmates,  but 
as  part  of  the  system  of  moral  treatment  of  insanity, — still 
the  earliest  movement  in  this  direction  was  made  by  the 
trustees  and  superintendent  of  the  State  Lunatic  Hospital 
at  Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1835.  In  their  report  for  that  year, 
both  the  trustees  and  superintendent  invite  the  attention  of 
the  legislature  to  the  establishment  of  a  chapel,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  religious  exercises,  especially  on  the  Sabbath. 
In  1836,  Dr.  Woodward  again  refers  to  the  subject.  "  A 
lew  of  our  inmates  at  present  go  to  the  churches  in  the  vil- 
lage, and  are  always  gratified  by  such  an  indulgence ;  others 
spend  the  day  in  reading  at  home ;  but  with  a  large  propor- 
tion of  them  the  day  passes  heavily  along,  and  is  spent  in 
idle  listlessness  or  imtation.  With  the  insane  I  would  as 
far  as  possible  inculcate  all  the  habits  of  rational  life.  I 
wish  them  to  attend  religious  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  for 
the  same  reason  that  other  men  do,  for  instruction  in  religion 
and  virtue.  In  matters  of  religion  and  morality,  I  would 
deal  with  the  insane  as  with  the  rational  mind,  approve  of 
no  deception,  encourage  no  delusions,  foster  no  self-compla- 
3 


34  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

cent  impressions  of  character,  dignity,  and  power :  I  would 
improve  every  opportunity,  when  the  mind  is  calm  and  the 
feelings  kind,  to  impress  on  them  that  they  are  men,  to  ex- 
cite in  their  minds  rational  contemplations,  encourage  cor- 
rect habits,  awaken  self-respect,  and  prompt  to  active  duty. 
In  aid  of  this  I  wish  them  to  attend  religious  worship,  to 
listen  to  instruction  from  the  volume  of  truth,  and  to  receive 
encouragement  to  calm  and  quiet  tempers,  from  its  promises 
of  reward  to  virtuous  and  upright  conduct.  Few  individuals 
are  so  completely  insane  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  moral 
instruction,  and  perhaps  I  may  add,  of  moral  responsibilities." 
With  these  views  a  chapel  was  opened,  and  religious  wor- 
ship was  commenced  by  regular  meetings  on  the  Sabbath, 
on  which  all  the  officers  and  household  of  the  Hospital  were 
requested  to  attend. 

To  carry  out  his  plans  to  perfection  in  this  important  de- 
partment of  the  moral  treatment  of  insanity,  and  especially 
in  its  early  stages,  Dr.  Woodward  felt  the  necessity  of  hav- 
ing the  cooperation  of  a  clergyman  of  cheerful  and  yet  fer- 
vent piety,  of  large  acquaintance  with  men,  and  of  great 
versatility  in  modes  of  reaching  the  human  •mind  and  heart, 
and  above  all,  of  that  Christlike  spirit,  'w^hich,  touched  with 
a  sense  of  human  infirmity,'  should  not  expend  itself  in' 
passive  pity,  but  in  wholesome  and  practical  action  for  its 
relief.  These  qualities  and  qualifications  he  knew  belonged 
in  a  preeminent  degree  to  Mr.  Gallaudet,  and  to  him  the 
chaplaincy  in  the  institution  at  Worcester  was  tendered. 
He  so  far  encouraged  the  application  as  to  visit  Worcester, 
and  conduct  the  religious  exercises  of  the  institution  for 
several  Sabbaths.  He  returned  to  Hartford  with  a  strong 
conviction  that  in  ministering  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the 
insane,  and  in  aiding  in  their  restoration  to  mental  sound- 
ness, there  was  a  new  field  of  benevolent  activity  opened, 
into  which  he  would  enter  if  such  should  be  the  indications 
of  Providence.  It  was  difficult  for  me,  who  had  been  made 
acquainted  with  this  movement,  to  see  why  a  man  so  much 
and  deservedly  respected  and  beloved  in  this  community, 
who  was  doing  so  much  good,  not  only  by  his  direct  labors 


Tliomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  35 

in  every  good  cause,  but  by  the  daily  beauty  of  his  life,  need 
go  to  Worcester  to  labor  for  the  insane,  when  we  had  an 
institution  for  this  unfortunate  class  among  ourselves,  of 
which  we  at  least  ought  to  be  proud,  as  in  reality  the  pioneer 
institution  of  this  country  in  the  improved  methods  of  treat- 
ing insanity,  which  had  already  furnished  the  superintend- 
ents of  three  other  institutions,  and  from  which  Dr,  Wood- 
ward had  adopted  those  methods  of  treating  insanity,  which 
have  made  the  State  Lunatic  Hospital  at  Worcester  known 
throughout  the  world. 

Believing  with  Dr.  Woodward,  that  he  was  eminent- 
ly qualified  for  the  place,  and  that  such  an  office  could  be 
most  advantageously  created  in  our  own  institution,  and 
that  its  directors  when  the  subject  was  fairly  presented, 
•would  introduce  the  same,  I  addressed  myself  to  several  of 
our  public-spirited  and  benevolent  individuals,  and  in  less 
than  twenty-four  hours  received  sufficient  encouragement  to 
say  to  Mr.  Gallaudet,  and  to  some  of  the  directors,  that  in 
case  he  should  be  appointed  chaplain,  at  least  one-half  of 
such  salary  as  should  be  agreed  on,  would  be  paid  by  indi- 
viduals in  Hartford. 

Mr.  Gallaudet  was  appointed  ;  and  he  entered  on  his  new 
and  interesting  field  of  labor  with  his  usual  caution  and 
thoroughness.  No  man  could  study  his  duties  with  a  more 
prayerful  and  earnest  spirit, — no  one  could  improve  more 
faithfully  every  opportunity  to  become  intimately  acquainted 
wi^h  the  peculiarities  of  the  mental  and  moral  condition  of 
each  of  the  numerous  inmates  of  the  Retreat, — no  one 
could  aim  to  act  in  more  perfect  accordance  with  the  coun- 
sels and  directions  of  the  superintending  physician, — no  one 
could  select  with  more  cautious  deliberation  the  truths  of 
religion  which  could  be  advantageously  adapted  to  those  who 
are  laboring  under  mental  or  moral  delusions,  or  more  wisely 
present  the  motives  which  could  aid  in  leading  back  such  to 
a  self-controlling  and  healthful  condition  of  mind,  or  admin- 
ister  the  consolation  that  would  reach  their  real  or  supposed 
trials.  The  experience  of  each  successive  year  furnished  ac- 
cumulating evidence  of  the  usefulness  of  his  labors,  and  the 


36  Thomas  Hopkins   Gallaudet, 

efficacy  of  kind  moral  treatment  and  a  wise  religious  influ- 
ence in  the  melioration  and  care  of  the  insane.  How  beauti- 
fully did  both  his  manner  and  success  illustrate  the  wisdom 
of  that  law  of  kindness,  which  Dr.  Todd  impressed  on  the 
organization  of  this  Retreat  as  the  all-pervading  and  plastic 
power  of  its  moral  discipline  I 

O I  how  vividly  did  his  mode  of  conversing  with  the  in- 
sane, bring  back  the  image  and  language  of  that  gifted 
man, — the  first  physician  and  founder  of  the  Retreat; — how 
beautifully  did  the  labors  of  both  realize  the  language  in 
which  Whittier  describes  the  true  mode  of  dealing  with  the 
insane, 


Gentle  as  angels'  ministry, 

The  guiding  hand  of  love  should  bo. 

Which  seeks  again  those  chords  to  bind 
Which  human  woe  hath  rent  apart, — 

To  heal  again  the  wounded  mind, 
And  bind  anew  the  broken  heart. 
The  hand  which  tunes  to  harmony 
The  cunning  harp  whose  strings  are  riven. 
Must  move  as  light  and  quietly 
As  that  meek  breath  of  summer  heaven 
Which  woke  of  old  its  melody  ; — 
And  kindness  to  the  dim  of  soul, 
Whilst  aught  of  rude  and  stern  control 
The  clouded  heart  can  deeply  feel. 
Is  welcome  as  the  odors  fanned 
From  some  unseen  and  flowering  land. 
Around  the  weary  seaman's  keel ! 

The  details  of  the  duties  and  labors  of  chaplain,  as  per- 
formed by  Mr,  Gallaudet,  are  thus  set  forth  in  one  of 
his  annual  reports  to  the  directors,  "  Most  of  these  duties 
are  of  a  very  regular  and  uniform  kind.  I  attend  prayers  on 
week  days  in  the  chapel,  and  conduct  the  religious  exercises 
there  on  the  Sabbath.  I  keep  up  a  constant  daily  intercourse 
with  the  patients  in  their  respective  halls,  endeavoring  to  be- 
come familiar  with  their  individual  characters  and  peculiari- 
ties, and  to  do  them  good  in  the  way  of  religious  counsel, 
pleasant  conversation,  and  other  kind  offices.  I  visit  them 
in  their  rooms,  especially  when  they  are  sick,  and  when  cir- 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  37 

cumstances  render  it  desirable,  pray  with  them,  as  I  do,  also, 
with  the  attendants  and  nurses  when  laboring  under  indis- 
position. 

"  I  attend  the  weekly  reading  and  sewing  parties  of  the 
female  patients,  the  customary  celebration  of  the  anniversary 
of  American  Independence,  and  other  occasions  of  entertain- 
ment and  interest  which  bring  many  of  the  inmates  of  the 
institution  together,  performing  at  such  times,  such  services 
as  are  in  my  power.  Occasionally,  I  go  with  a  party  of  the 
patients  to  visit  the  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  year,  I  render  not  a  few  attentions  to 
the  friends  of  the  patients  from  abroad,  who  are  spending 
some  time  in  the  city ;  receive  visits  from  the  patients  and 
the  friends  of  the  patients,  at  my  own  house ;  convey  mes- 
sages from  those  of  them  who  live  in  Hartford  to  the  Re- 
treat, and  from  the  Retreat  to  them  ;  and  frequently  call  upon 
them  at  their  own  residences  with  information  to  be  com- 
municated to  them  from  the  physician. 

"  Some  correspondence  devolves  upon  me,  growing  out  of 
the  relation  which  I  sustain  to  the  Retreat,  and  my  friend- 
ship or  acquaintance  with  those  who  have  relatives  or  friends 
under  its  care.  I  am  in  the  constant  habit  of  learning  what 
it  is  needful  for  me  to  know,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official 
duties,  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  each  patient,  both 
when  admitted  and  afterwards,  from  the  physician ;  while  I 
endeavor,  in  all  that  I  do,  to  act  in  accordance  with  his  views 
lind  wishes,  I  will  only  add  that,  as  one  means  of  greater 
usefulness,  part  of  my  reading  is  devoted  to  such  works  on 
insanity  and  reports  of  other  institutions,  as  I  think  will  be  of 
practical  benefit  to  me. 

"  From  year  to  year,  the  impression  deepens  upon  my 
mind,  that  there  is  much  yet  to  learn  with  regard  to  the 
physical,  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  the  insane,  and 
much  yet  to  do  in  ascertaining  and  applying  all  the  available 
means  of  alleviation,  of  comfort,  and  of  cure.  Here  is  yet  a 
wide,  and,  to  a  great  extent,  unexplored  field,  in  which  expe- 
rience, ingenuity  and  Christian  benevolence  may  find  ample 
scope  for  exercise.     I  am  sure,  I  can  say  so,  from  what  I  ob- 


38  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

serve  in  my  own  appropriate  department,  with  regard  to  the 
mental  and  religious  condition  of  the  insane,  presenting,  as  it 
does,  phenomena  of  the  most  singular,  various,  and  compli- 
cated kinds.  Striking  and  multifarious  peculiarities,  in  these 
respects,  exist  among  the  sane.  It  would  be  strange  indeed 
if  they  were  not  found  to  be  as  many,  and  as  great,  among 
the  insane. 

"  Each  case,  therefore,  needs  to  be  deliberately  and  pa- 
tiently studied  by  itself,  and  time  must  be  taken  for  doing 
this,  that  the  moral  and  religious  means  employed  for  relief 
and  restoration  may  be  wisely  chosen  and  applied.  Hence, 
in  order  that  the  chaplain  may  be  a  judicious  and  successful 
auxiliary  of  the  physician  at  the  head  of  an  institution  for  the 
insane,  it  is  indispensable  that  he  should  have  frequent  and 
familiar  intercourse  with  its  inmates.  He  thus  becomes  the 
better  qualified,  not  only  to  conduct  the  customary  religious 
exercises,  and  to  prepare  the  discourses  which  he  delivers, 
in  a  way  suited  to  the  condition,  and  adapted  to  the  ben- 
efit of  the  patients,  but  also  to  appreciate  the  counsels  and 
directions  of  the  physician  in  his  daily  interviews  with  them, 
and  to  make  these  interviews  pleasant  and  profitable. 

"  It  is  by  such  intercourse,  too,  that  the  chaplain  gains  the 
confidence  and  friendly  regard  of  the  patients.  This  opens 
their  minds  and  hearts  to  his  inspection,  and  procures  for  him 
a  moral  influence  over  them  which  would  be  very  limited 
and  imperfect  without  this  intercourse.  It  need  not,  and  I 
think  I  can  say  from  my  own  experience,  it  does  not  detract 
from  that  deference  and  respect  which  are  due  to  his  sacred 
office.  On  the  contrary,  if  this  intercourse  is  wisely  con- 
ducted, it  leads  them  to  esteem  the  chaplain  as  their  pastor 
and  friend,  one  who  knows  them  personally,  and  sympathizes 
with  them  individually,  and  thus  to  take  a  deeper  interest  in 
his  public  ministrations,  and  to  be  the  more  profited  by  them. 

"  I  have  dwelt  a  little  on  this  topic  from  the  desire  that  I 
have  to  impress  its  importance  upon  those  who  are  interested 
in  the  insane,  or  who  are  interested  with  the  management  of 
institutions  for  their  benefit.  For  if  my  labors  in  the  Retreat 
have  been,  in  any  degree,  acceptable  and  useful  to  its  in- 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  39 

mates,  or  entitled  to  any  approbation  from  its  directors,  this 
has  arisen  preeminently  from  the  opportunities  which  I  have 
enjoyed  of  daily  and  familiar  intercourse  with  the  pupils." 

No  one  familiar  with  the  internal  management  and  con- 
cerns of  an  institution  of  this  character,  and  with  the  phe- 
nomena of  this  disease,  can  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  recog- 
nize the  great  benefit  of  these  labors  and  of  religious  influence, 
wisely  exerted,  to  the  insane.  Many  of  the  patients  (we  use 
substantially  the  language  of  his  reports,)  are  in  a  state  of 
convalescence,  and  are  fast  recovering  their  original  sound- 
ness of  mind;  and  among  these  and  the  other  patients  are 
a  few  who  well  know,  by  long  experience,  how  to  use  and 
prize  such  privileges.  Others  are  laboring  under  kinds  and 
degreesof  insanity  which  leave  the  mind  rational  with  regard 
to  a  variety  of  subjects,  religion  often  being  one  of  them. 
Some  are  only  periodically  affected,  and  entirely  sane  during 
the  intervals.  Some  have  perverted  moral  feelings,  obliqui- 
ties of  disposition  and  temper,  while  the  intellect  is  capable, 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  of  appreciating  truth.  Of  the 
rest,  there  are  those,  indeed,  whose  minds  are  so  enfeebled  or 
beclouded  by  their  malady,  that  they  may  not  have  any  dis- 
tinct conceptions  of  religious  truth  conveyed  to  them.  Yet 
even  these  retain  some  childlike  susceptibilities  of  religious 
feeling,  not  wholly  inaccessible  to  the  salutary  impressions 
which  the  outward  forms  alone  of  divine  worship  are  adapted 
to  produce.  Former  associations  and  habits  are  not  yet  ob- 
literated. They  often  give  distinct  and  pleasant  indications 
that  the  things  of  religion  are  among  the  few  objects  which 
still  afford  them  some  gratification ;  and  small  as  may  be  the 
degree  of  enjoyment  and  benefit  which  they  thus  experience, 
Christian  sympathy  delights  to  provide  this  solace  for  them, 
careful,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Saviour,  not  to  break  the  bruised 
reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking-  flax. 

In  estimating  the  value  of  these  religious  exercises  there 
are  many  things  to  be  taken  into  account,  in  addition  to  their 
spiritual  benefit  to  the  patients,  as  means  of  grace  that  they 
ought  to  enjoy  in  common  with  their  fellow-men  around 
them, — and  which  things  in  their  aggregate  influence,  have  a 


40  TJwmas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

much  greater  efficiency  than  many,  not  familiar  with  them, 
would  suppose.  Such  are  the  following:  the  necessary  prep- 
arations to  be  made  for  attending  the  religious  exercises  in 
a  becoming  manner,  and  which  fill  up  a  portion  of  time 
agreeably  and  profitably;  the  regular  return  of  the  stated 
hour  for  doing  this,  and  the  pleasant  anticipations  connected 
with  it;  the  change  of  scene  from  the  apartments  and  halls 
to  a  commodious,  cheerful  and  tasteful  chapel,  there  to  unite 
in  the  worship  of  God ;  the  social  feelings  induced  and  grat- 
ified ;  the  waking  up  of  formerly  cherished  associations  and 
habits  ;  the  soothing,  consoling,  and  elevating  influence  of 
sacred  music ;  the  listening  intelligently  to  the  interesting 
truths  of  the  word  of  God,  and  uniting  with  the  heart  in 
rendering  him  that  homage  which  is  his  first  due,  as  is,  be- 
yond doubt,  the  case  with  not  a  few  of  the  patients ;  the  suc- 
cessful exercise  of  self-control,  so  strikingly  and  continually 
exhibited  by  those  who  need  to  exercise  it ;  the  having  their 
own  place  of  worship,  and  their  own  minister  whom  they 
regard  as  the  peculiar  pastor  of  the  little  flock  to  which  they 
belong;  the  habits  of  punctuality,  order  and  decorum  they 
acquire,  and  relish,  in  going  to  and  returning  from  the  accus- 
tomed place  of  their  devotions, — the  two  sexes  having  their 
separate  avenues  for  entering  and  withdrawing,  connected 
with  the  male  and  female  sides  of  the  institution,  and  their 
appropriate,  distinct  seats  while  assembled  together;  the 
feeling  that,  in  all  this,  they  are  treated  like  other  folks,  and 
act  as  other  folks  do,  and  the  subsequent  satisfaction,  a  part 
of  our  common  nature,  which  many  of  them  experience  in 
the  reflection  that  they  have  performed  an  important  duty. 

The  Sabbath,  it  may  be  added,  would  be,  to  many  of  the 
inmates  of  the  Retreat  a  monotonous  and  tedious  day,  if  it 
were  not  enlivened  and  cheered  by  their  coming  together  for 
religious  worship.  This  has  often  been  noticed,  and  also 
that  they  manifest  a  strong  and  even  restless  desire  to  have 
the  usual  religious  exercises  return,  when,  as  will  sometimes 
happen  from  peculiar  circumstances,  they  have  been  tempo- 
rarily suspended. 

Of  a  truth,  he  has  well  said,  "  such  labors  have  their  encour- 


Thomas  Hopkins  GallaudeU  41 

agement  and  reward.  They  have  made  me  familiar  with 
hundreds  of  individuals,  whose  afflicted  condition,  while 
shutting  them  out  from  the  usual  occupation,  privileges  and 
enjoyments  of  the  intelligent  and  busy  world  around  them, 
has  not  in  most  instances,  rendered  their  minds  impervious  to 
the  influence  of  moral  and  religious  truth,  nor  their  hearts 
inapproachable  by  the  kind  offices  of  Christian  sympathy 
and  love. 

"  How  many  torpid  sensibilities  have  I  seen  awakened  to 
respond  to  the  impressions  of  the  fair,  the  beautiful,  and  the 
good  ;  how  many  consciences  aroused  to  a  sense  of  the  right 
and  the  wrong,  so  as  to  produce  the  power  of  self-control  and 
of  proper  conduct;  how  many  slumbering  domestic  and 
social  affections  kindled  up  into  their  former  activity ;  how 
many  religious  despondencies,  sometimes  deepening  into 
despair,  changed  into  the  serenity  of  Christian  hope ;  how 
many  suicidal  designs  forever  abandoned,  because  life  had 
become  a  pleasure  instead  of  a  burden  too  heavy  to  be  borne ; 
how  many  prayers  revived  on  the  altars  of  private  and  public 
devotion ;  how  many  kindly  charities  of  the  soul  breathing 
forth,  once  more,  in  deeds  of  self-denying  beneficence." 

In  this  necessarily  hurried  and  imperfect  review  of  Mr. 
Gallaudet's  life  and  services,  I  have  dwelt  at  some  length 
on  his  labors  at  the  Retreat  and  in  behalf  of  the  insane,  not 
only  because  such  labors  have  been  more  out  of  the  way  of 
f)ublic  observation,  and  because  they  can  never  appear  in  a 
form  to  be  recognized  by  public  gratitude, — ^but  because  the 
physical,  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  the  insane,  and 
the  whole  subject  of  insanity, — its  nature,  causes,  and  availa- 
ble means  of  prevention,  alleviation  and  cure,  are  even  now 
imperfectly  understood.  Not  the  least  valuable  service  ren- 
dered to  the  cause  of  humanity  by  the  Retreat  in  its  man- 
agement of  the  insane,  and  by  Mr.  Gallaudet,  as  its  chap- 
lain, and  by  his  conversations  with  the  patients  and  their  rel- 
atives and  friends,  will  be  found  in  the  light  which  has  thus 
been  shed,  on  this  interesting  field,  through  the  community. 
Thirty  years  ago,  when  this  institution  was  established,  in- 
sanity was  regarded  in  some  mysterious  and  special  sense, 


W 


42  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

as  a  direct  visitation  of  Heaven,  which  it  was  almost  an  act 
of  impiety  to  trace  to  physical  causes,  and  as  affixing  a  re- 
proachful stigma  upon  the  character  of  the  unfortunate  suf- 
ferer. But  the  investigations  which  have  been  made,  here  and 
elsewhere,  into  the  causes  of  that  perversion  or  impairment 
of  the  mental  faculties,  or  moral  affections,  either  entire  or 
partial,  which  constitutes  insanity,  have  shown  beyond  all 
doubt,  that  it  is  a  physical  disease,  as  much  as  a  fever,  or 
the  gout, — that  it  springs  from  natural  causes,  induced  by  a 
violation,  near  or  remote,  knowingly  or  ignorantly,  of  some 
of  the  organic  laws  on  which  mental  functions  depend, — 
that  these  causes,  if  not  always  within  the  control  of  the  in- 
dividual, may  be,  in  a  large  majority  of  instances,  hastened 
or  retarded  in  their  effects,  and  what  is  of  far  more  practical 
importance,  can  be  known  and  counteracted  entirely. 

A  recent  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  more  than  twenty-two 
thousand  cases  of  insanity,  in  American  institutions,  demon- 
strates that  while  there  are  more  than  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty avenues  through  which  this  formidable  disease  makes 
its  attacks  on  the  domains  of  the  soul,  a  large  proportion  of 
these  avenues  can  be  closed  entirely,  by  early  preventive 
measures ;  and  that  unless  this  is  done,  and  done  soon,  with 
an  energy  and  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  magnitude 
of  the  calamity,  the  ravages  of  the  disease  will  go  on  increas- 
ing in  a  fearful  ratio  in  this  country.  Most  of  the  causes  of 
insanity  which  operate  in  other  countries,  are  found  working 
here  with  increased  energy,  with  the  developments  and  re- 
sults of  our  peculiar  civilization.  The  very  freedom  of 
thought,  religion,  business,  and  locomotion,  which  constitute 
the  glory  of  our  social  and  political  condition,  are  attended 
with  excessive  mental  action,  with  uncertain  employment, 
hazardous  speculations,  frequent  failures  and  disappoint- 
ments, abounding  means  and  provocations  for  sensual  indul- 
gences, multiplied  dangers  of  accidents  and  injury,  a  restless- 
ness in  social  life,  and  painful  struggles  for  showy  and  fash- 
ionable styles  of  living  and  the  distinction  and  emoluments 
of  office.  Unless  this  increase  of  mental  activity,  and  conse- 
quent increase  of  cerebral  action,  is  accompanied  by  a  cor- 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  43 

responding  knowledge  of  its  inevitable  consequences,  and  a 
corresponding  increase  of  discretion  to  guide,  and  of  prudence 
to  restrain, — then  will  insanity  go  on  increasing  among  us, 
shaking  down  the  pillars  of  reason,  and  not  only  multiplying 
retreats  and  hospitals,  but  filling  our  homes  with  desolation 
and  woe,  and  consuming  all  the  treasures  of  joy  and  hope. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  remark  that  Mr.  Gal- 
laudet's  experience  and  observations  among  the  insane, 
were  not  lost  upon  him  as  an  educator,  but  furnished  him 
with  facts  and  illustrations,  by  which  in  his  practical  lectures 
to  teachers,  or  conversation  with  parents  and  others  interest- 
ed in  the  cause  of  education,  he  shed  light  upon  questions  of 
deep  and  general  interest  connected  with  the  philosophy  of 
mind,  and  the  reciprocal  influence  which  the  mind  and  body 
have  upon  each  other, — the  elements  of  moral  science, — ^the 
education  and  training  of  children  and  youth,  both  in  fami- 
lies and  schools, — the  preservation  of  health  and  reason,  and 
the  precautionary  measures  to  be  pursued  to  guard  against 
the  ills  of  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  and  thus  enabling  every 
individual  to  prevent  more  than  the  most  successful  institu- 
tion can  ever  mitigate  or  remove.  To  him  the  Retreat  was 
not  only  the  field  of  Christian  benevolence,  but  a  school  of 
practical  wisdom  as  an  educator.  In  a  letter  addressed  to 
me  in  1844,  he  quoted  a  paragraph  of  one  of  Dr.  Woodward's 
reports,  as  expressing  clearly  and  forcibly  his  own  conviction, 
that  a  defective  and  faulty  education  through  the  period  of 
infancy  and  youth  is  the  most  prolific  cause  of  insanity,  and 
that  we  must  look  to  a  well  directed  system  of  education, 
having  for  its  object  physical  improvement,  no  less  than  moral 
and  mental  culture,  as  the  best  security  against  the  attacks 
of  this  most  formidable  disease.  With  this  conviction,  in  all 
his  later  educational  addresses  he  dwelt  on  the  importance  of 
paying  attention  to  the  physical  condition  and  improvement 
of  schools,  to  ventilation,  to  all  the  arrangements  of  the  yard, 
to  exercise,  to  frequent  intervals  of  relaxation  from  study 
spent  in  the  fresh  air,  and  in  athletic  sports,  to  the  propor- 
tionate development  of  all  the  faculties,  and  in  all  cases,  to 
the  avoidance  of  undue  stimulants  to  study,  especially  with 
young  children  and  with  females. 


44  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

Iq  1835-6  Mr.  Gallaudet  was  induced  by  an  association 
of  which  Mr.  Richard  Bigelow  and  Henry  Hudson,  Esq., 
of  Hartford,  were  the  active  members,  to  visit  the  western 
States  in  reference  to  a  plan  of  religious  education  for  that 
section  of  the  country,  which  in  cooperation  with  local  and 
individual  efforts,  and  in  aid  of  existing  schools,  contem- 
plated a  supply  of  well  qualified  teachers  and  the  establish- 
ment in  each  State  of  at  least  one  model  institution  of 
Christian  education.  The  financial  disasters  which  swept 
over  the  country  soon  after,  crippled  the  means  of  several  of 
the  active  promoters  of  the  plan,  and  it  was  postponed, 
never  to  be  renewed  under  the  same  auspices.  At  a  later 
period,  a  somewhat  similar  enterprise  was  undertaken  by 
Miss  Catherine  E.  Beecher,  to  which  Mr.  Gallaudet  ever 
gave  his  counsel  and  aid,  in  preparing  ihe  class  of  teachers 
who  have  for  the  last  four  years  assembled  in  Hartford  for  a 
course  of  preparatory  instruction,  before  going  west. 

Among  the  religious  and  benevolent  enterprises  in  which 
he  was  particularly  interested,  may  be  mentioned  the  Amer- 
ican Tract  Society,  of  the  Connecticut  branch  of  which  he 
was  for  many  years  president ;  the  cause  of  universal  Peace, 
which  he  aimed  to  promote  by  disseminating  information 
among  all  men  of  the  anti- Christian  tendency  of  the  war 
spirit,  and  by  cultivating  in  every  way  the  doctrines  and 
graces  of  Christianity,  commencing  always  with  the  individ- 
ual, and  spreading  out  through  the  family  and  the  neighbor- 
hood, till  they  embraced  the  State  and  the  world ;  and  the 
civilization  and  Christianization  of  Africa  by  means  of  colo- 
nies of  free,  intelligent  and  religious  blacks  from  this  coun- 
try. To  the  American  Colonization  Society  and  its  affiliated 
societies  he  was  in  the  habit  of  looking  as  the  great  instru- 
mentality under  Providence  for  elevating  the  condition  of 
the  African  race  in  its  own  home,  and  wherever  the  cupidity 
of  other  races  may  have  forcibly  transplanted  it.  No  man 
could  be  more  kind  and  considerate  in  his  attentions  and 
efforts  to  improve  the  condition  of  this  class  of  our  popular 
tion  at  home,  and  especially  in  providing  them  with  th 
means  of  intellectual  and  religious  improvement. 


TJiomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  45 

After  living  a  life  of  practical  usefulness,  such  as  it  is  the 
privilege  of  but  few  good  men  to  live,  and  yet  such  as  every 
wise  man  at  the  time  of  his  death,  if  he  could  live  his  life 
over  again,  would  aspire  to  live,  Mr.  Gallaudet   died  as 
every  good  man  would  desire  to  die.     Overtaken  by  sickness 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  at  the  Retreat,  he  retired  to  his 
own  home  and  his  chamber  on  the  night  of  the  20th  of  July, 
to  go  no  more  out,  until  borne  by  others  to  his  last  resting- 
place.     His  disease  proved  to  be  an  aggravated  form  of  dys- 
entery, and  so  prolonged  and  so  severe  was  the  attack,  that 
his  constitution,  never  robust,  and  his  strength,  which  was 
never  vigorous,  and  which    for  the  last  twenty  years  had 
been  husbanded  only  with  extreme  care,  sank  beneath  it ;  and 
after  forty-six  wearisome  days  and  nights,  during  most  of 
which  his  mind  was  remarkably  clear  and  active,  and  his 
faith  undimmed,  he  died  on  the   10th  of  September,  1851, 
leaving  to  his  widow  and  eight  children,  and  this  sorrowing 
community,  the  inestimable  legacy  of  his  life  and  character, 
and  the  consoling  lesson  of  his  death.     In  the  bosom  of  his 
family, — watched  over  by  the  gentle  eye  of  affection, — minis- 
tered to  by  children  who  would  keep  him  yet  a  little  longer 
from  the  sky, — the  last  offices  of  the  sick-room  sought  by 
neighbors  and  friends,  who  would  thus  requite  his  kindness 
to  them,  and  mark  their  appreciation  of  his  worth, — without 
one  gathering  mist  or  shade  on  his  hope  of  a  blessed  here- 
after, secured  (to  use  his  own  language)  not  by  merits  of  his 
(twn,  but  by  the  redeeming  grace  of  God, — he  passed  through 
his  last  tedious  sickness,  feeling  the  arm  of  his  Saviour  be- 
neath him ;  and  when  his  hour  came,  his  spirit  passed  away 
so  gently,  that  the  precise  moment  was  unmarked, — 

They  thought  him  dying  when  he  slept, — 
And  sleeping  when  he  died. 

His  soul  to  Him  who  gave  it  rose, 
"    God  led  him  to  his  long  repose. 

His  glorious  rest. 
And  though  that  Christian's  sun  has  set, 
Its  light  shall  linger  round  us  yet, 

Bright,  radiant,  blest. 


46  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

In  forming  any  just  estimate  or  analysis  of  Mr.  Gallau- 
det's  character,  we  must  assign  the  first  and  prominent  place 
to  his  religious  views  and  habits.  In  his  love  to  God  and 
love  to  man,  are  we  to  find  the  hilling  of  his  power,  as  a 
practical  philanthropist.  In  the  language  of  one  who  knew 
him  intimately  for  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  :  "  Reli- 
gion was  so  interwoven  into  the  whole  character  of  Mr. 
Gallaudet,  that  we  can  rightly  estimate  it  only  in  connec- 
tion with  the  entire  web.  Some  men,  and  good  men  too,  as 
we  must  regard  them,  appear  not  the  same  in  their  religious 
aspect  as  in  business,  or  in  social  scenes, — but  it  may  be 
truly  and  emphatically  said  of  him,  that  his  religious  life 
was  his  whole  life.  In  the  expressive  title  of  one  of  his  own 
volumes,  he  was  an  every-day  Christian.  There  was  nothing 
fitful  in  his  piety  :  it  was  of  the  same  evenness  and  symmetry 
which  marked  the  other  parts  of  his  character.  It  was  not  a 
succession  of  oases  around  springs  in  a  desert,  linked  to- 
gether by  long  tracts  of  sandy  waste, — but  fed  by  principle,  it 
found  its  resemblance  in  the  verdure  which  borders  on  an 
ever-running  brook. 

"  His  religion  was  beneficence  where  good  was  to  be  done 
or  kindness  shown.  It  was  honesty,  exact  and  scrupulous, 
where  business  was  to  be  transacted  between  him  and  his  fel- 
low-men. It  was  conscientiousness,  where  the  rights  of  others 
were  involved  in  his  plans  or  his  acts.  It  was  self-denial, 
where  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  the  unfortunate  required 
not  only  an  outlay  of  time,  but  solicitations  sometimes  pain- 
ful to  make,  in  gaining  the  .cooperation  of  others.  It  was 
courtesy,  where  it  was  often  difficult  to  reconcile  the  claims 
of  an  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  discharge  of  pressing, 
indispensable  engagements.  It  was  humility,  towards  God, 
shewing  itself  in  a  deep  sense  of  unworthiness.  It  was 
penitence,  when  human  weakness  yielded  to  temptation, — 
penitence  sincere,  abiding,  and  fruitful,  in  meet  works.  It 
was  cordial  trust  in  the  atonement  of  a  Divine  Redeemer, — 
not  leading  to  carelessness,  but  exciting  prayerful  efforts  to 
transfer  the  grace  of  that  Redeemer's  character  to  his  own. 
It  was  hope, — not  now  of  noonday  glare,  and  now  of  mid- 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  47 

night  gloom,  but  hope  ever  uniform  and  stedfast,  though 
sometimes  bedimmed  with  a  passing  cloud.  It  was  joy,  not 
buoyant,  like  that  of  the  new-born  soul,  or  triumphant  like 
that  of  the  martyr.  No  one  acquainted  with  his  mental 
characteristics,  his  habitual  moderation, — his  almost  excessive 
caution, — his  keen  insight  into  character, — his  close  scrutiny 
of  his  feelings,  would  look  in  his  bosom  for  joys  like  these 
But  to  joy  such  as  flows  from  beneficent  acts, — such  as  the' 
peace  of  God  imparts  to  the  contrite  spirit, — such  as  a  hope 
of  casting  off  human  weakness,  and  mingling  through  grace 
among  the  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus  in  a  higher  life,  inspires, 
to  such  joy  he  was  no  stranger. 

"  He  had  a  deep  reverence  for  the  sacred  scriptures  and  ex- 
alted views  of  their  influence  in  controlling  and  purifying  the 
human  mind.     As  an  instrument  of  government  in  the  fam- 
ily, and  in  society,  no  one  held  them  in  higher  estimation. 
His  religious  sentiments  were  those  commonly  denominated 
Evangelical.     He  loved  to  regard  the  truths  of  the  gospel  in 
their  simplicity,  and  though  as  capable  as  most  amongst  us 
of  metaphysical  speculations,  in  which  he  would  sometimes 
indulge  in  conversation  with  his  intimate  friends, — he  fell 
back  on  the  Bible  in  its  obvious  meaning  for  the  support  of 
his  hope  and  his  quickening  in  the  religious  life.     Though  a 
firm  believer  in  the  necessity  of  supernatural  aid  to  train  man 
for  heaven,  he  ever  urged  the  serious,  regular,  prayerful  ob- 
servance of  divine  institutions  and  means  of  moral  improve- 
ment.    On  the  moulding  power  of  these  he  relied  for  forming 
the  Christian  character  rather  than  on  any  measures  of  mere 
human  devising. 

"  Both  from  principle  and  native  temperament,  he  was  char- 
itable in  his  estimate  of  the  opinions  of  others, — but  when 
the  occasion  demanded,  he  was  ready  courteously  and  firmly 
to  defend  his  own.  The  respect  with  which  he  was  regarded 
by  the  religious  of  every  name,  shews  that  this  striking  trait 
of  his  character  was  duly  appreciated. 

"  To  an  unusual  extent,  he  associated  this  world,  its 
scenes,  its  occupations,  its  influences,  with  a  future  exist- 
ence,— regarding   the    habits,   both   intellectual   and   moral, 


48  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

which  we  form  on  earth,  as  entering  with  us  into  that  state. 
'  Non  omnis  moriar^  all  of  me  will  not  die,  was  an  unfailing 
quickener  of  his  zeal  in  preparing  to  perform  in  another  life 
an  agency  of  benevolence,  pure,  ceaseless,  self-satisfying, 
eternal.  And  who  can  doubt  that  in  some  part  of  God's 
wide  empire,  his  happy  spirit  is  now  ministering  to  'them 
who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation,'  or  planning  schemes  of 
beneficence,  which  earth's  intellect  cannot  conceive,  or  earth's 
resources  execute." 

Such  is  the  religious  character  of  Mr.  Gallaudet,  as  d^awn 
by  one,  (Rev.  Horace  Hooker,)  who  knew  him  intimately  for 
a  period  of  twenty  years,  in  his  mature  manhood,  and  as  testi- 
fied to  by  others  who  knew  him  as  intimately  at  the  same 
and  other  periods  of  his  life.  Out  of  whatever  theological 
dogmas  as  roots,  this  character  may  have  grown,  all  will  wit- 
ness that  it  bore  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness.  Amid 
the  jarring  and  sometimes  belligerent  forces  of  creeds  and 
denominations,  it  was  refreshing  to  find  one  character  in  our 
midst,  who  had  a  charity  large  enough  to  act  in  any  good 
work  with  others  of  difi'ering  views,  and  that  too  without 
sacrificing  the  convictions  of  his  own  conscience,  and  at  the 
same  time  securing  the  respect  of  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  men.  In  the  language  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  as  applied 
by  a  distinguished  divine  of  our  own  city,  who  differed  from 
him  in  some  points  of  church  doctrine  and  organization,  (Rev. 
Dr.  Turnbull,)  "  The  soul  of  such  a  Christian  in  the  midst 
of  other  Christians,  appeared  like  such  a  little  white  flower 
as  we  see  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  low  and  humble  in  the 
ground,  opening  its  bosom  to  receive  the  pleasant  beams  of 
the  sun's  glory  ;  rejoicing  as  ever  in  a  calm  rapture,  diffusing 
around  a  sweet  fragrancy,  standing  peacefully  and  lovingly 
in  the  midst  of  other  flowers  round  about ;  all  in  like  manner 
opening  their  bosoms  to  drink  in  the  light  of  the  sun." 

What  a  beautiful  and  truthful  commentary  and  illustration 
was  his  own  daily  life,  of  his  religious  views  as  set  forth  in 
his  pulpit  discourses,  and  more  elaborately  in  his  Every- 
Day  Christian !  All  of  us,  who  have  had  occasion  to  con- 
sult or  converse  with  him  in  the  street,  in  the  office,  in  the 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet,  49 

committee-room,  in  his  own  house,  must  have  had  occasion 
to  notice  the  equable  condition  of  his  mind  and  heart, — the 
faithfulness  of  his  memory, — the  clearness  of  his  concep- 
tions,— ^the  ability  to  call  into  exercise  his  mental  vigor  and 
resources,  together  with  the  calm  and  self-possessed  state  of 
his  affections,  going  forth  in  easy  and  happy  expressions  of 
good  will  to  others.  How  naturally,  how  habitually  did  he 
improve  every  occasion  of  social  intercourse,  or  even  a  casual 
meeting,  by  rational,  instructive,  and,  at  proper  moments, 
serious  conversation,  without  casting  one  shade  of  gloom 
over  such  seasons;  and,  in  his  own  home,  how  gracefully 
were  the  courtesies  of  society  and  the  attachments  of  friend- 
ship made  subservient  to  the  highest  purposes  of  this  life, 
and  of  that  which  is  to  come.  His  life  was  a  living  sermon, 
that  was  read  and  appreciated  by  all  men. 

As  a  teacher,  his  success  was  uniform  and  preeminent  in 
a  widely  diversified  field  of  experience.  In  his  college  classes, 
among  the  deaf  mutes,  in  the  Hartford  Female  Seminary,  at 
the  head  of  his  own  family  school,  and  as  a  teacher  of 
teachers,  he  was  distinguished  by  the  same  characteristics, 
and  by  the  same  success,  viz :  the  moral  influence  of  his  own 
personal  character  and  actions, — the  thorough  preparation  he 
brought  to  every  recitation  and  every  duty, — his  own  clear 
conception  of  every  principle  and  every  fact  which  he  wished 
to  convey  to  the  minds  of  others, — his  power  of  arresting  and 
retaining  the  attention  of  his  pupils,  even  among  the  very 
young,  and  particularly  among  the  dull  and  those  w^hose 
minds  were  undisciplined, — the  simplicity  and  vividness  of 
his  illustrations,  and  the  clearness  and  logical  sequence  of 
his  statements, — his  power  and  range  of  expression,  both  in 
pantomime  and  in  spoken  language, — and  the  rigid  accu- 
racy which  he  ever  exacted  from  his  pupils  in  every  exercise. 
In  his  own  peculiar  department,  in  that  with  which  his 
reputation  as  a  teacher  is  inseparably  connected,  he  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  mastery  of  pantomime,  the  natural  lan- 
guage of  the  deaf  and  dumb,  which  he  has  also  the  merit  of 
having  simplified  and  extended, — for  the  facility  and  felicity 
with  which  he  explained  to  them  the  difficulties  and  use  of 
4 


50  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet, 

written  language,  and  for  his  powers  in  unfolding  the  sub- 
lime as  well  as  the  simple  doctrines  of  morality  and  religion, — 
the  ideas  of  justice,  goodness,  responsibility,  spiritual  exist- 
ence, immortality  and  God.  To  Mr.  Gallaudet  is  univer- 
sally conceded  the  no  ordinary  merit,  of  being  the  first  to  es- 
tablish for  his  pupils  in  the  American  Asylum  the  daily  and 
Sabbath  devotional  exercises  by  signs,  thus  securing  to  them 
the  privilege  of  social  worship,  and  adding  to  the  restraints 
on  bad  conduct  and  to  the  motives  of  a  correct  life.  In  all  that 
relates  to  religious  culture,  our  American  institutions  are 
confessedly  in  advance  of  European  institutions,  and  this  is 
mainly  to  be  attributed  to  the  methods  and  example  intro- 
duced by  Mr.  Gallaudet  into  the  American  Asylum. 

The  greatest  service  rendered  by  him  as  an  educator  and 
teacher, — his  highest  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  all  who  are 
laboring  to  advance  the  cause  of  education  in  any  grade  or 
class  of  schools,  is  to  be  found  in  his  practical  acknowledg- 
ment and  able  advocacy  of  the  great  fundamental  truth,  of 
the  necessity  of  special  training,  even  for  minds  of  the  high- 
est order,  as  a  prerequisite  of  success  in  the  art  of  teaching. 
In  view  of  this  truth,  he  traversed  the  ocean  to  make  himself 
practically  acquainted  with  the  principles  and  art  of  instruct- 
ing the  deaf  and  dumb  ; — to  this  end,  he  became  a  normal 
pupil  under  the  great  normal  teacher  Sicard,  in  the  great 
normal  school  of  deaf-mute  instruction  in  Paris.  And  still 
distrusting  his  own  attainments,  he  thought  himself  pecul- 
iarly fortunate  in  bringing  back  with  him  to  this  country  a 
teacher  of  still  larger  experience  than  himself,  and  of  an  al- 
ready acquired  reputation,  and  thus  making  the  American 
Asylum  the  first  normal  school  of  deaf-mute  instruction  on 
this  continent.  And  beyond  this,  he  was  ever  the  earnest 
advocate  for  training,  under  able  master  workmen  in  the  busi- 
ness of  education,  all  who  aspired  to  teach  the  young  in  any 
grade  of  schools.  How  confirmatory  of  the  wisdom  of  his 
views  is  the  success  the  American  Asylum.  If  he,  and  such 
as  he,  can  do  so  much  to  improve  and  confirm  the  health,  to 
develop  the  different  faculties  of  the  mind,  to  communicate 
knowledge,  to  subdue  and  control  the  passions  and  propen- 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  51 

sities,  and  to  awaken  and  train  the  higher  sentiments  and 
holier  affections  of  our  common  nature,  in  children  laboring 
under  such  extraordinary  natural  deprivations  and  obstacles 
as  the  deaf  and  dumb,  by  means  of  skill,  experience,  appara- 
tus and  perseverance, — surely  much,  very  much  more,  can  be 
accomplished  by  the  same  skill,  experience,  apparatus  and 
perseverance,  with  children  having  all  their  senses,  and  under 
more  favorable  and  favoring  circumstances  and  influences. 
But  do  we  find  such  teachers  in  one  out  of  a  thousand,  or  one 
of  ten  thousand,  in  our  common  schools,  where  the  mass  of 
our  children  are  educated?  Does  not  society,  which  sees 
the  necessity  of  tact,  skill,  experience,  and  singleness  of  aim 
and  life,  in  teachers  of  the  deaf  mute  and  blind,  and  employs 
persons  having  these  qualities  and  qualifications  at  a  com- 
pensatory price,  tolerate  a  degree  of  unfitness,  both  in  char- 
acter and  preparation,  in  the  teachers  of  the  people,  which 
would  not  be  tolerated  in  any  department  of  labor  that  min- 
isters to  its  material  interests  and  enjoyments  ? 

As  an  author, — and  especially  of  text-books,  and  books 
for  children  and  youth, — while  he  has  done  enough  to  give 
him  a  distinct  and  permanent  place  in  the  annals  of  Ameri- 
can literature,  he  has  exhibited  such  large  and  wide  views 
of  education,  such  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  order  and 
degree  and  methods  of  development,  to  which  each  faculty 
should  be  subjected,  such  accuracy  in  defining  words  and 
stating  principles,  and  such  facility  in  unfolding  the  most  ab- 
struse and  complex  problems  and  propositions,  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  deep  regret,  that  he  did  not  devote  himself  to  the 
preparation  of  a  series  of  text-books  for  instruction  in  the 
English  language.  I  know  of  no  living  teacher  or  educator 
who  can  do  the  work  so  well.  His  volume  of  Sermons, 
published  in  1817,  his  Every-Day  Christian,  his  Child's 
Book  on  the  Soul,  and  his  incomplete  serial  work.  Scripture 
Biography,"  are  beautiful  specimens  of  correct  and  polished 
composition,  as  well  as  of  accurate  thought  and  Christian 
feeling. 

As  a  public  speaker,  in  the  pulpit  or  the  lecturer's  desk' 
soon  after  he  entered  the  ministry  and  during  his  early  con- 


52  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  f 

nection  with  the  Asylum,  he  was  eminently  popular.  As  a 
sermonizer  he  had  but  few  equals.  His  subject  was  distinctly 
set  forth,  the  topics  logically  arranged,  his  language  polished, 
his  imagination  chaste,  his  manner  earnest,  and  his  voice 
persuasive.  The  hearer  was  borne  along  by  a  constantly 
swelling  tide,  rather  than  swept  away  by  a  sudden  billow. 
In  later  life,  at  least  on  ordinary  occasions,  his  power  as  a 
preacher  was  weakened  by  his  habit  of  simplifying  his 
thoughts,  and  extending  his  illustrations  for  the  deaf  and 
dumb  and  for  children.  But  these  last  qualities  made  his 
preaching  at  the  E/ctreat  and  the  prison  particularly  profita- 
ble and  acceptable,  delivered  as  it  was  with  a  clearness  and 
sincerity  of  manner  and  tone,  which  won  at  once  the  hearts 
of  the  sorrowing  and  the  outcast. 

To  appreciate  the  character  and  value  of  his  services  as 
chaplain,  both  in  the  county  jail  and  the  Retreat,  he  should 
have  been  seen  and  heard  ;  and  especially  at  the  Retreat,  not 
only  in  his  regular  religious  teaching  on  the  Sabbath  and  in 
evening  worship,  but  in  his  daily  visitation  among  the  dim 
and  erratic  in  soul,  and  his  intercourse  with  their  friends  and 
relatives,  who  were  sorrowing  over  the  wreck  of  domestic  joys 
and  hopes.  How  simple  and  wise  were  his  instructions, — 
how  surely  did  his  kindness  open  the  closed  doors  of  their 
affections, — how  like  the  dew  distilled  his  words  of  consola- 
tion,— how  like  the  notes  of  David's  harp  on  the  unquiet 
spirit  of  Saul,  fell  the  tones  of  his  voice  over  those  whose 
thoughts,  it  seemed  but  a  moment  before,  could  not  rest  or 
be  comforted! 

His  conversational  powers  were  remarkable,  and  he  never 
failed  to  interest  all  who  came  into  his  society.  To  a  com- 
mand of  language,  at  once  simple  and  felicitous,  he  added  a 
stock  of  personal  reminiscences  drawn  from  a  large  acquaint- 
ance with  the  best  society  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, — a 
quick  sense  of  the  beautiful  in  nature,  art,  literature  and  mor- 
als,— a  liveliness  of  manner, — a  ready  use  of  all  that  he  had 
read  or  seen,  and  a  real  desire  to  make  others  happy,  which 
made  his  conversation  always  entertaining  and  instructive. 
He  was,  beside,  a  good  listener, — always  deferential  to  old 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  53 

and  young,  and  could  have  patience  even  with  the  dull  and 
rude.  With  children  he  was  eminently  successful,  winning 
their  confidence  by  his  kind  and  benevolent  manner,  and 
gaining  their  attention  by  the  simplicity  and  pertinency  of 
his  remarks.  He  seemed  in  society  as  in  the  world,  to  make 
it  a  matter  of  principle  "  to  remember  the  forgotten,"  and 
thus  to  draw  the  old  and  retiring  into  the  circle  of  the  regards 
and  attention  of  others. 

Although  below  the  ordinary  height,  and  singularly  modest 
and  unassuming,  yet  with  his  erect  carriage,  and  dignified 
although  not  formal  manners,  always  respectful  and  even 
courteous  to  others,  without  challenging  any  special  attention 
to  himself  or  his  office,  he  succeeded  in  inspiring  a  reverence 
softened  by  love,  which  mere  personal  presence,  age  or  office 
could  not  command. 

He  never  spoke  ill  of  any  man,  and  could  not  listen  with- 
out exhibiting  his  impatience,  to  such  speaking  in  others,  and 
never  wiftiout  suggesting  a  charitable  construction  of  mo- 
tives, or  the  extenuating  circumstances  of  ignorance,  or  the 
force  of  temptation.  His  sympathy  and  charity  for  the  err- 
ing, whether  in  conduct  or  opinion,  were  peculiar.  Those 
who  had  never  felt  the  power  of  temptation,  or  never  culti- 
vated the  grace  of  charity,  "  which  beareth  all  things,  believ- 
eth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things,"  might 
deem  this  a  weakness,  but  to  me  it  seemed  akin  to  the  kind- 
n^s  of  Him,  who  was  touched  with  a  feeling  of  human  in- 
firmity, and  whose  mission  it  was  to  call  sinners  to  repent- 
ance. 

He  was  methodical  in  the  transaction  of  business  to  an 
extent  rarely  found  in  men  of  literary  habits.  This  was 
partly  the  result  of  his  home  training,  and  partly  of  his  ex- 
perience in  the  counting-room  and  commercial  affairs.  It 
was  a  favorite  theory  of  his,  that  every  boy  before  entering 
college  or  a  profession,  should  have  at  least  one  winter's 
experience  in  a  store,  and  one  summer's  training  on  a  farm. 
He  was  punctual  in  all  his  engagements.  He  thought  it 
was  neither  just  or  Christian  to  make  appointments,  and 
then  break  them  on  any  plea  of  convenience,  or  forgetfulness. 


54  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

He  was  economical, — not  for  the  sake  of  hoarding,  but  from 
necessity  and  a  sense  of  justice.  "  Owe  no  man  anything," 
was  a  precept  of  perpetual  obligation  with  him. 

He  was  cautious  to  an  extent,  which  in  the  opinion  of 
some  of  his  best  friends,  abridged  his  usefulness.  This  may 
be  so, — and  I  have  thought  so  at  times,  when  I  felt  the  need 
of  his  active  cooperation  in  enterprises  in  which  I  was  par- 
ticularly interested.  But  I  have  had  many  occasions  to 
admire  his  wise,  forecasting  prudence,  in  keeping  aloof  from 
schemes,  which  although  plausible,  he  could  foresee  must 
fail.  This  caution  may  have  abridged  his  activity,  but  it 
prolonged  the  day  of  his  usefulness.  His  path  is  strewn 
with  as  few  fragments  of  enterprises  wrecked,  as  that  of 
any  other  person,  whose  mind  was  always  projecting  plans 
of  social  improvement. 

His  benevolence  was  of  that  practical,  universal  and  pre- 
ventive sort, — that  it  can  be  followed  by  every  body,  every 
day,  in  something ;  and  if  followed  by  every  body,%.nd  begun 
early,  and  persevered  in,  would  change  the  whole  aspect  of 
society  in  a  single  generation.  It  began  with  the  individ- 
ual, each  man  and  woman  and  child,  by  making  the  in- 
dividual better.  It  worked  outward  through  the  family 
state,  by  precept  and  example,  and  above  all  by  the  formation 
of  habits,  in  every  child,  before  that  child  had  become 
hardened  into  the  guilty  man  and  woman.  It  operated  on 
every  evil  by  remedies  specifically  adapted  to  meet  its  pecu- 
liarities. It  promoted  each  good  by  agencies  trained  for  that 
special  work.  It  looked  to  God  for  his  blessing,  but  its 
faith  in  God's  blessing  was  made  sure  by  its  own  diligent 
works. 

Mr.  Gallaudet  was  emphatically  the  friend  of  the  poor 
and  the  distressed.  He  did  not  muse  in  solitude  on  human 
misery,  but  sought  out  its  victims  and  did  something  for 
their  relief.  There  was  a  womanly  tenderness  in  his  nature, 
which  was  touched  by  the  voice  of  sorrow,  whether  it  came 
from  the  hovel  of  the  poor,  or  the  mansion  of  the  rich.  His 
benevolence  was  displayed  not  simply  in  bestowing  alms, 
although  his  own  contributions  were  neither  few  or  small 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  55 

according  to  his  means, — not  simply  as  the  judicious  almoner 
of  the  bounty  of  others,  although  no  man  among  us  was 
more  ready  to  solicit  pecuniary  subscriptions  and  contribu- 
tions, (not  always  the  most  agreeable  or  acceptable  business 
in  the  range  of  benevolent  action,)  or  give  the  necessary  time 
to  the  judicious  application  of  the  means  thus  raised, — not 
simply  by  prayers  earnest  and  appropriate,  in  the  home  of 
mourning, — ^but  by  the  mode  and  the  spirit  in  which  he  dis- 
charged these  several  duties.  He  did  not  aim  always  or 
mainly  to  secure  the  pecuniary  contributions  of  the  rich,  but 
what  is  of  far  higher  value  both  to  the  rich  and  poor,  to  enlist 
their  personal  attention  to  the  condition  of  the  suffering 
members  of  society.  His  wish  always  was  to  localize  and 
individualize  benevolence  so  that  every  man  should  feel  that 
he  has  a  direct  personal  interest  in  some  spot  and  individual 
of  the  great  field  of  suffering  humanity.  He  knew  from  his 
own  heart,  that  we  love  that  which  we  strive  to  benefit,  and 
he  was  therefore  anxious  that  every  man  should  be  found  doing 
^ood  to  something,  or  somebody,  who  stood  in  need  of  such 
personal  help.  His  own  life  was  a  practical  illustration  both 
of  the  wisdom  and  beauty  of  his  doctrine.  He  took  a  real 
pleasure  in  seeking  out  and  relieving  human  suffering,  and 
no  one  could  more  literally  act  out  his  religion, — if  to  do  so, 
was  to  visit  the  widow  and  fatherless  in  their  affliction. 

Although  no  man  could  place  a  higher  value  on  religion, 
as  the  personal  concern  of  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam, 
and  as  the  source  of  inward  comfort  and  strength,  particu- 
larly to  the  poor  and  distressed, — he  knew  full  well  that  reli- 
gion did  not  stand  alone  in  the  human  mind,  and  was  not 
the  only  concern  of  human  nature  here  below.  He  felt  and 
acknowledged  its  connection  with  the  entire  life, — with  intel- 
lectual cultivation,  with  manners  and  personal  habits,  with 
household  arrangements  and  management,  and  with  the 
substance  and  form  of  parental  duty.  Hence  his  labors  in 
behalf  of  the  poor  covered  a  much  larger  ground  than  the 
immediate  relief  of  physical  wants,  or  the  utterance  of  a 
prayer,  or  words  of  spiritual  consolation.  He  labored  to  im- 
press on  the  rich  and  the  poor,  as  householders  and  tenants, 


56  Tliomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

the  Christian  duty,  the  necessity  of  making  the  homes  of  the 
poor  more  healthy,  comfortable  and  attractive.  He  saw  the 
difficulty,  if  not  the  impossibility  of  cultivating  the  Christian 
virtues  and  graces,  amid  the  filth  and  discomfort  of  cellars 
and  garrets,  and  even  of  such  dwellings  as  the  destitute  gen- 
erally occupy.  He  saw  also  the  necessity  of  time  and  mental 
vigor,  if  the  poor  and  the  laborer  are  to  profit  by  sermons, 
and  tracts,  and  lectures.  After  ten,  twelve,  or  fifteen  hours, 
confinement  to  hard  labor  there  is  neither  elasticity  of  mind 
or  body  to  entertain  serious  thought  or  severe  reading. 
Both  body  and  mind  need  rest,  or  at  least  recreation,  and 
unless  a  taste  for  innocent  amusements  has  been  created, 
and  easy  access  to  such  amusements  can  be  had,  the  laborer 
must  go  to  his  pillow, — or  to  the, excitements  of  the  shop  or 
of  congenial  company.  Hence,  Mr.  Gallaudet's  aims  were 
to  secure  for  all  laborers,  old  and  young, — in  the  factory  and 
in  the  field, — in  the  shop,  and  in  the  kitchen,  time^ — time  to 
attend  to  their  spiritual  and  their  intellectual  improvement ; — 
in  the  second  place,  a  taste  for  something  pure  and  intellec- 
tual,— and  in  the  third  place,  the  means  of  gratifying  these 
tastes. 

In  all  his  plans  of  benevolent  and  Christian  action,  for 
society  or  for  individuals,  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  paramount 
claims  of  home  and  the  family  state  as  the  preparator}'^ 
school,  in  which  the  good  citizen  is  to  be  trained  up  for  the 
service  of  the  state,  and  the  devoted  Christian  for  the  service 
of  his  Master.  The  making  of  a  little  more  money,  or  the 
participation  of  social  enjoyments,  were  with  him  no  excuse 
for  neglecting  an  engagement  with  his  own  children  ; — nay, 
when  the  calls  of  the  public,  or  the  voice  of  religion  itself, 
would  seem  to  urge  to  the  performance  of  higher  and  more 
important  duties,  his  doctrine  was  that  conscience  should 
weigh  these  claims,  looking  to  the  word  of  God  for  instruc- 
tion, and  to  the  throne  of  his  grace,  for  guidance,  against  the 
sacred  trust  of  discharging  his  duty  faithfully  in  the  domestic 
circle.  In  the  peculiar  position  of  his  own  family,  he  felt 
these  ties  and  claims  the  more  strongly. 

On  this,  mainly,  he  rested  his  final  declinature  of  the  urgent 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallavdet.  57 

invitation  of  the  trustees  of  the  New  England  Institution  for 
the  Blind,  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  that  benevolent 
movement  in  1831, — and  in  1838,  the  as  urgent  solicitation 
of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  that  he 
would  accept  the  post  of  secretary,  and  the  only  executive 
agent  in  its  operations  in  behalf  of  education  in  the  State. 

There  is  one  responsibility  connected  with  the  situation  of 
the  head  of  a  family, — that  of  the  guardianship  of  clerks  and 
apprentices, — the  nature  and  duties  of  which  he  took  every 
fit  occasion,  in  conversation,  and  in  his  public  addresses, 
to  explain  and  enforce.  Many  a  young  man,  leaving  his 
parental  roof  for  the  first  time,  breaking  away  from  a  mother's 
tearful  advice  and  exhortations,  and  a  father's  last  petition 
to  a  kind  Providence,  to  seek  his  fortune  in  this  city  as  a 
clerk  or  apprentice,  amid  new  companions,  new  trials,  and 
new  temptations, — owes  his  safety  to  the  kind  word  fitly 
spoken,  or  little  attention  timely  shown  of  Mr.  Gallaudet. 
And  beyond  this  personal  service,  how  often  and  how  earn- 
estly has  he  explained  and  enforced  the  claims  of  such  young 
persons,  on  the  constant  watchfulness  and  care  of  employ- 
ers,— as  the  only  individuals  that  can  exercise  a  parental 
guardianship  over  them,  and  who  can  by  making  their  own 
homes  attractive  to  them  and  their  own  children,  preserve 
them  from  the  allurements  of  vice  and  from  habits  of  dissi- 
patiq^i. 

I  shall  not,  I  trust,  intrude  on  the  sacredness  of  family 
privacy,  or  private  sorrow,  in  the  few  additional  words  which 
I  shall  say  of  his  domestic  life.  Mr.  Gallaudet  was  married 
on  the  10th  of  June,  1821,  to  Miss  Sophia  Fowler,  of  Guil- 
ford, a  deaf  mute,  with  whom  his  acquaintance  commenced 
while  she  was  a  member  of  the  first  class  of  pupils  instructed 
by  him  at  the  Asylum.  Seldom  has  domestic  life  been 
blessed  with  so  sweet  an  accord  of  temper,  taste,  and  views 
of  family  instruction  and  discipline,  and  by  such  a  bright 
dower  of  clustering  charities, — a  triumphant  testimony  to  the 
deaf  mutes,  of  their  inherent  capability,  properly  instructed, 
to  take  their  appropriate  position  of  influence  in  the  family 
state.     In  no  one  position  did  the  distinguishing  features  of 


58  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

his  mind  and  heart  shine  out  more  clearly  than  in  his  own 
home,  and  in  the  practical  discharge  of  his  domestic  and 
social  duties.  Here  his  views,  as  a  wise  educator,  were 
illustrated  by  beginning  the  work  of  parental  instruction  and 
example  in  the  very  arms  of  the  mother,  and  in  the  lap  of 
the  father,  while  natural  affection  tempers  authority  with 
love,  and  filial  fear  with  filial  attachment  and  gratitude. 
Here  he  iiimed  to  form  habits,  as  well  as  principles  of  truth, 
temperance,  honesty,  justice,  virtue,  kindness  and  industry. 
Here  by  example  and  influence,  by  well-timed  instruction  and 
judicious  counsels,  by  a  discipline  uniform  in  its  demands 
of  strict  obedience,  yet  tempered  with  parental  fondness  and 
familiarity,  did  he  aim  to  fulfil  the  obligations  which  God 
had  imposed  on  him  as  the  head  of  a  family ;  and  in  this  pre- 
paratory sphere  of  instruction  he  had  the  personal  and  assid- 
uous attention  of  Mrs.  Gallaudet.  He  was  much  with  his 
family, — joining  in  their  innocent  recreations, — contributing 
to  their  instruction  and  improvement, — shedding  over  them 
the  benign  influence  of  his  example, — ruling  almost  with  an 
unseen  authority, — his  look  mild,  yet  unwavering, — his  voice 
gentle,  yet  decided, — his  manners  familiar,  yet  command- 
ing,— and  looking  to  God  continually  in  prayer,  and  to  his 
written  word  for  guidance  and  counsel.  In  his  own  home, 
he  sought  and  found  repose  and  refreshment  after  his  occu- 
pation in  his  own  study  or  his  abounding  labors  abroad ;  and 
when  sickness  visited  him,  or  any  member  of  his  family, 
which  it  did  often  and  severely,  they  were  all  so  trained  as  to 
minister  to  each  other's  bodily  wants,  and  as  well  as  to  each 
other's  spiritual  necessities. 

In  bringing  this  discourse,  already  too  protracted,  to  a  close, 
I  will  dwell  for  a  moment  on  some  of  the  practical  lessons, 
which  we  should  gather  from  the  contemplation  of  the  life 
of  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet,  and  bring  home  to  our 
business  and  bosoms. 

The  least  we  can  do  to  prove  ourselves  worthy  of  posses- 
sing his  name  and  example  among  the  moral  treasures  of  our 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  59 

city  and  State,  is  to  cherish  the  family, — the  objects  of  his 
tenderest  solicitude  and  care,  which  he  has  left  behind  him ; 
and  by  some  fit  memorial  to  hold  in  fresh  and  everlasting 
remembrance,  his  deeds  of  beneficence  to  us  and  our  pos- 
terity forever.  The  ashes  of  such  a  man,  in  whose  character 
the  sublimest  Christian  virtues  ceased  to  be  abstractions,  if 
his  memory  is  properly  cherished,  will,  like  the  bones  of  the 
prophet,  impart  life  to  all  who  come  in  contact  therewith. 
The  ingenious  youth  of  our  city,  should  be  led,  by  some 
memorial  of  our  gratitude  for  his  services,  to  study  his  life, 
till  its  beauty  and  spirit  shall  pass  into  their  own  souls,  and 
flow  out  afresh  in  their  own  acts  of  self-denying  beneficence. 
Whatever  we  may  do  for  the  future,  we  may  at  least  act 
in  the  living  present,  in  the  spirit,  and  to  some  extent  in  the 
methods  which  have  wrought  such  valuable  results  in  his 
life.  It  may  not  be  the  lot  of  any  of  those  who  hear  me,  to 
pursue  the  same  walk  of  professional  labor, — ^it  may  not  be 
the  privilege  of  any  of  us  to  open  up  new  avenues  of  knowl- 
edge to  those  who,  in  the  providence  of  God,  are  deprived  of 
all  or  either  of  the  senses,  through  which  the  soul  holds  in- 
tercourse with  the  outer  world  ;  but  if  we  look  around  in 
the  streets,  or  neighborhood  where  we  dwell, — if  we  will  open 
our  ears^nd  our  hearts  in  our  daily  walks,  we  shall  not  fail 
to  find,  as  he  always  found,  neglected  or  misguided  children, 
who  are  as  truly  shut  out  from  innocent  pleasures,  from  all 
the  delights  and  rewards  of  virtue,  as  are  the  deaf  from  the 
voice  of  men,  or  the  blind  from  the  light  of  day.  We  need 
not  go  out  of  the  limits  of  our  own  city,  to  find  children,  who 
have  been  accustomed  from  infancy  to  sights  and  sounds  of 
open  and  abandoned  profligacy,  and  trained,  by  example,  to 
idle,  vicious  and  pilfering  habits,  and  who,  if  not  rescued 
soon,  will  be  found  hanging  round  places  of  public  resort, 
polluting  the  atmosphere  by  their  profane  and  vulgar  speech, 
alluring  to  their  own  bad  practices  children  of  the  same  and 
other  conditions  of  life,  and  originating  or  participating  in 
every  street  brawl  or  low-bred  riot,  until,  in  their  downward 
career,  there  is  on  earth  no  lower  point  to  reach.     Such  chil- 


60  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet, 

dren  can  not  be  safely  gathered,  or  profitably  instructed  in 
our  public  schools.     For  them,  one  or  more  of  that  class  of 
educational  institutions,  known  as  refuge  schools,  or  schools 
of  industry,  should  be  established.     But  even  this  will  not 
reach  the  source  or  the  extent  of  the  evil.     The  districts  of 
our  city  where  this  class  of  children  are  found,  are  the  appro- 
priate fields  of  systematized  plans  of  local  benevolence,  em- 
bracing friendly  intercourse  with  the  parents,  an  affectionate 
interest  in  the  children,  the  gathering  of  the  latter  into  week- 
day infant  and  primary  schools,  and  schools  where  the  use 
of  the  needle,  and  other  forms  of  labor  appropriate  to  the  age 
and  sex  of  the  pupils  can  be  given, — the  gathering  of  both 
old  and  young  into  Sabbath  Schools  and  worshiping  assem- 
blies,— the  circulation  of  books  of  other  than  a  strictly  reli- 
gious character, — the  encouragement  of  cheap,  innocent  and 
humanizing  games,  sports  and  festivities, — the  obtaining  of 
employment  for  adults  who  may  need  it,  and  procuring  situ- 
ations as  apprentices,  clerks,  &c.,  for  such  young  persons  as 
may  be  qualified  by  age,  capacity  and  character.     By  indi- 
vidual efforts  and  the  combined  efforts  of  many,  working  in 
these  and  other  ways,  from  year  to  year,  these  moral  jungles 
can  be  broken  up, — these  infected  regions  can  be  purified, — 
these  waste  places  of  society  can  be  reclaimed,  and  many 
abodes  of  penury,  ignorance  and  vice  can  be  converted  by 
education,  economy  and   industry,  into   homes   of  comfort, 
peace  and  joy. 

It  may  not  be  our  privilege, — and  if  it  were,  we  may  not 
have  the  admirable  tact  to  succeed  as  he  did, — to  re  tune  the 
harp  of  a  thousand  strings  which  misfortune,  or  the  violations 
of  natural  laws,  on  the  observance  of  which  mental  health 
depends,  or  the  transmitted  consequences  of  such  violations 
on  the  part  of  parents,  may  have  shattered, — to  bind  up  the 
broken  heart, — to  pour  consolation  into  the  torn  bosom  of 
the  friends  and  relations  of  the  insane  ;  but  we  may,  if  we 
will  follow  his  example,  help  to  rear  up  a  generation  of 
youth  having  sound  minds  in  sound  bodies,  which  will  thu? 
be  better  prepared  to  withstand  the  shock  of  sickness  an^ 


Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet.  61 

misfortune,  and  even  counteract  the  inherited  tendencies  to 
nervous  and  mental  disease. 

We  may  not  be  called  to  go  into  the  prison,  to  preach  spir- 
itual deliverance  to  the  captive, — to  reclaim  the  wandering 
lambs   of  society  back  to  the   fold   of  the  family  and  the 
church,  and  to  temper  the  severity  of  penal  justice  with  the 
accents  of  heavenly  mercy, — but  we  may,  by  our  fidelity  as 
teachers,  educators  and  friends  of  education,  set  the  feet  of 
the  young  in  the  way  they  should  go,  so  that  when  they  are 
old  they  shall  not  depart  therefrom,  nor  be  doomed  to  wear 
out  a  weary  and  guilty  life  in  the  felon's  cell,  or  atone  for 
manifold  and  heinous  crimes  against  society  on  the  ignomin- 
ious scaffold.     In  some  allotment  of  the  wide  domain  of  edu- 
cation,— in  its  large  and  comprehensive  sense,  embracing  the 
culture  of  the  w^hole  being,  and  of  every  human  being  for  two 
worlds,  we  can  find  objects  and  room  enough  for  any  sacri- 
fice of  time,  money  and  labor,  we  may  have  to  bestow  in  its 
behalf.      Ever  since  the   Great    Teacher  condescended   to 
dwell  among  men,  the  progress  of  this  cause  has  been  up- 
ward and  onward,  and  its  final  trivimph  has  been  longed  for 
and  prayed  for,  and  believed  in  by  every  lover  of  his  race. 
And  although  there  is  much  that  is  dark  and  despairing  in 
the  past  and  present  condition  of  society,  yet  when  we  study 
the  nature  of  education,  and  the  necessity  and  capabilities  of 
improvement  all  around  us,  with  the  sure  word  of  prophecy 
in  our  hands,  and  with  the  evidence  of  what  has  already  been 
accomplished,  the  future  rises  bright  and  glorious  before  us, 
and  on  its  forehead  is  the  morning  star,  the  herald  of  a  better 
day  than  has  yet  dawned  upon  our  world.     In  this  sublime 
possibility, — nay,  in  the  sure  word  of  God,  let  us  in  our  hours 
of  doubt  and  despondency,  reassure  our  hope,  strengthen  our 
faith,  and  confirm  the  unconquerable  will.      The  cause  of 
education  can  not  fail,  unless  all  the  laws  which  have  hereto- 
fore governed  the  progress  of  society  shall  cease  to  operate, 
and  Christianity  shall  prove  to  be  a  fable,  and  liberty  a  dream. 
May  we  all  hasten  on  its  final  triumph,  by  following  the  ex- 
ample of  the  departed  Gallaudet,  in  doing  good  according 


62  Thomas  Hopkins  Gallaudet. 

to  our  means  and  opportunity, — and  may  each  strive  at  the 
end  of  life  to  deserve  his  epitaph,  "in  whose  death  man- 
kind lost  a  friend,  and  no  man  got  rid  of  an  enemy." 

"  How  sleep  the  good !  who  sink  to  rest, 

AVith  their  Redeemer's  favor  blest : 

When  dawns  the  day,  by  seers  of  old,  , 

In  sacred  prophecy  foretold, 

They  then  shall  burst  their  humble  sod. 

And  rise  to  meet  their  Saviour — God. 

To  seats  of  bliss  by  angel-tongue. 
With  rapture  is  their  welcome  sung, 
And  at  their  tomb  when  evening  gray 
Hallows  the  hour  of  closing  day. 
Shall  Faith  and  Hope  awhile  repair. 
To  dwell  with  weeping  Friendship  there." 


TRIBUTE 


TO    THE    MEMORY    OF 


^l)omas  jl^opkins  (!^allant)ct. 


[5  Mr.  Barnard's  Eulogy  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Rev. 
§  Thomas  H,  Gallaiulet,  LL.  D.,  will  be  published  by  Brockett 
1^  &  Hutchinson,  Hartford,  with  an  appendix,  containing 

i 

k2  I.     Alice  Cop;s\velI. 

^  II.     Deaf-Mute  Instruction  and  Institutions.    • 

III.  History  of  the  American  Asylum  for  the  Education  of  Deaf  and 
Dumb  Persons. 

IV.  Journal  of  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet  during  liis  visit  to  Europe, 
9  in  1815-16. 

^  V.     Discourse  delivered  at  the   Opening  of  the   American   Asylum, 

%  April  20,  1817. 

^  .... 

^         \  r.     Discourse  at  the  Dedication  ot  the  American  Asylum,  May  22, 

p  1821. 

^       YII.     Proceedings  on  the  Presentation  of  Silver  Plate  to  Messrs.  Gallau-  ; 

§  det  and  Clerc. 

b 

ko      V\l\.     Discourse  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Connorticiit  K. 

0  treat  for  the  Insane,  January  6,  1846. 

'^  IX.     History  of  Normal  Schools,  or  Seminaries  for  the  Education  of' 

P  Teachers. 

t^  X.     Remarks  on  Seminaries  for  Teachers. 

\$  XL     List  of  Publications  by  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet.                           i 

IS      The  whole  will  make  a  volume  of  about  200  pages,  and,  i 
(6  bound  in  cloth,  will   be  sold  for  $1.00.     Tiie  avails  of  the 
§  edition  will  be  given  to  Mrs.  Gallaudet.  J 

§  The  work  will  be  on  sale  by  Mark  H.  Newman  &  Co.,  ; 
^  New  York;  E.  C.  &  J.  Biddle,  Philadelphia;  and  Tieknor  ^ 
"^  &  Co.,  Boston.  c 


.QZ2£!gQi^g.lgO-'  9  Q  \.o'i^^f)^9}22^Q§4:->QS^M9}22:il^Q}2S!^Q)22m£^D 


I  or  a 


PAMPHLET    BINDER 


Syracusi 
Stocktoi 


KE 


14  DAY  USL 

_  ^  DESK  FROM  WHICH  B OR.  OWED 
LOAN  DEPT. 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


LIBRARY  USE 


NnV  2  5 1958 


PECO  LO 


MOV25t958 


yn^Qt  VV!Ni.u^ 


focalltStflr 


^rwfiR   ^-72  11 


(^   SYAC-^:v^ 


APR  1 1 1972  2 


In  stacks — \mii 72 


PFP'r>  >f>     JUN 


L^ 


LD  21A-50m-9,'58 
(6889sl0)476B 


General  Library 
University  of  California 
Berkeley 


^^ 


'W,-mmf. 


